Hardee's climb to fast-food success hasn't been a smooth ride.
They've been accused of sexist advertising, competed bitterly with other brands, and so
much more.
Here's everything you never knew about Hardee's.
What's the difference between Hardee's and Carl's Junior?
Their advertising looks almost identical, so what gives?
The answer is location, location, location.
As former CEO Andy Puzder told CNBC in 2014:
"In the Southwest, and the in East, and, actually we’re moving up the East Coast, we have
Hardee's.
Hardee's and Carl's Junior are really the same brand."
Hardee's started in North Carolina in the 1960s, and Carl's Junior first popped up in
California 20 years prior.
In the nineties, Carl's Junior's parent company CKE Restaurants bought Hardee's.
Rather than risk losing their established identities, they each kept their name.
Ask any Midwestern baby-boomer about Burger Chef, and they'll probably have fond memories.
"Open wide, America.
Burger Chef's got thick, juicy, terrific burgers for you.
100% all beef."
The fast food chain was an innovator in the industry, but was eventually gobbled up by
the big dogs, with Hardee's delivering the death blow.
In the early seventies, Burger Chef was second only to McDonald's in number of locations,
but in 1981, Hardee's swooped in and bought Burger Chef for forty-four million dollars.
From there, Hardee's began either closing every Burger Chef location, or converting
them into Hardee's.
By the end of 1996, the last Burger Chef was gone.
Hardee's didn't coin the term "food p---," but they certainly took the phrase and ran
with it.
Maybe you remember the ads for Hardee's Thickburgers or their other monster-sized sandwiches.
"Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.
But come on, it's called the Bacon Threeway Burger.
What did you expect?"
The ads, which featured models like Heidi Klum and Kate Upton, were sharply criticized
and called "sexist" by various media outlets.
In 2015, Andy Puzder, then-CEO of Hardee's parent company, defended the commercials:
"I like beautiful women eating burgers in bikinis…
I think it's very American."
The strategy worked, with the videos raking in millions of views on YouTube.
Puzder claims they boosted profits, too.
Go figure.
By 2017, though, those sexy ads were on their way out, and Hardee's had a new game plan.
To get people's minds off bosoms and back on burgers, Hardee's created the fictional
character Carl Hardee Senior.
The original three-minute ad featured a Hardee's office run by a spoiled Carl Hardee Junior.
Then, Carl Hardee Senior returns, reminding people that Hardee's was not just a softcore
pioneer, but also a burger pioneer.
"Take that down, put that up."
"That was supposed to be fresh ingredients and then that lady got in there and her clothes
flew off.
It was windy."
Another commercial featured Carl Hardee Senior blowing up his son's bikini collection.
As well-intentioned as the ads were, some critics felt they still played into dated
female stereotypes.
Glamour wrote:
"The revised brand image still portrays [women] as objects, just objects that don't belong
in burger ads."
By 2018, the brand was satirizing their former campaign with an ad starring actress and comedian
Celeste Barber.
It's a start, anyway.
Maybe you've seen Hardee's commercials boasting about their hand-breaded chicken tenders and
thought: "Yum, Hardee's serves chicken now!"
Well, it's not the first time they've tried serving fried chicken… only the most recent.
"Hardee's fried chicken.
It's tradition."
Back in the 1990s, Hardee's was all about fried chicken, and they made a valiant effort
to compete with Colonel Sanders and his Kentucky Fried Chicken empire.
This was likely a result of Hardee's buying the Roy Rogers chain, and attempting to incorporate
their fried chicken success into its own restaurants.
Hardee's even claimed their chicken won out over KFC in taste tests:
"Folks in a taste test preferred Hardees over KFC Original Recipe almost two to one."
"Better chicken than Kentucky Fried."
But alas, it wasn't meant to be.
By the early 2000s, Hardee's was putting its focus back on burgers.
They cut forty items from their lunch and dinner menus, and fried chicken was left behind.
Maybe it wasn't too popular after all.
Several fast food chains have offered turkey burgers over the years, but Hardee's rolled
them out first.
In 2011, the chain teamed up with Men's Health and the editors of Eat This, Not That! to
create turkey burgers that clocked in at 500 calories.
"To help you remember our delicious new charbroiled turkey burger, we hired Miss Turkey."
One major problem: Critics didn't think they tasted good.
One review from Serious Eats said:
"It reminded me of the gruel in The Matrix: food that doesn't taste like anything because
it has been engineered to be healthy."
KFC has cast big stars like Rob Lowe in their ad campaigns, and Arby's has Ving Rhames pitching
their meats.
"It's the most exciting thing to happen to turkeys since the invention of the turkey
baster."
But Hardee's has both chains beat in the "star power" category.
Back in the 1970s, Hardee's recruited Cass Elliot from The Mama's & The Papas to sing
a jingle for them.
"And so I hurried on down to Hardee's, where the burgers are charcoal-broiled.”
In the 1980s, the fast-food chain tapped claymation sensation the California Raisins to advertise
their cinnamon raisin biscuits.
In 2005, they created that notorious Paris Hilton car wash ad.
From there, everyone from reality stars like Kim Kardashian to Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi
and pro-fighter Ronda Rousey found themselves seduced by Hardee's fast-food delights.
"It's time you answered the call."
Fast forward to 2018, and they've got Matthew McConaughey doing voiceover work for Carl's
Junior, and actor David Koechner pushing Hardee's.
"Which means we hand make them like we do almost everything."
"'Cause that's what makes them so tasty.
Right Dad?"
"I wasn't kidding about the hand making stuff."