Hello, this is the story of...Hardee's.
The story of Hardee's begins on September 3rd, 1960, in Greenville North Carolina.
It was then, and there, that a man named "Wilber Hardee" opened Hardee's Hamburgers.
It is sometimes stated that this was his first restaurant, though in reality he had opened
a few before, including one named "Silo".
It was only after the first McDonald's moved in nearby that Hardee had the idea for what
would eventually become "Hardee's".
11 months after his McDonald's inspiration, Hardee's Hamburgers was open for business,
and business was good.
In the first four months of operation, Hardee had made a profit of over $9,500; not too
bad for a time when hamburgers went for 15 cents each.
Flush with this success, Wilber Hardee began forming plans to expand his new business.
He was introduced to Leonard Rawls, an accountant in his late 20s, and Jim Gardner, son of a
prominent dairy owner in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.
The three men believed Hardee’s could be expanded into a major chain by selling franchises,
and that they could become rich from it.
Wilber Hardee was thrilled by the prospect, and he entered into a handshake agreement
to incorporate Hardee’s Drive-Ins with his two new partners.
The following year, in May 1961, the second Hardee’s opened in Rocky Mount, this one
run by Rawls and Gardner, and also quickly became a success.
However, things soon deteriorated between Hardee, Rawls, and Gardner.
Hardee found he had lost controlling interest in the company.
Accounts vary as to how this happened, including losing control of the company in a poker game,
to a wild night of drinking leading to signing away the company in a lawyer's office late
one night.
The true reason may never be known, but a quote from Hardee gets to the heart of it.
He stated, “If you want to know the truth, I was stupid.
That’s what I was.
You know how it is — you make mistakes.”
Hardee ended up selling his namesake for $20,000.
Rawls and Gardner sold their first franchises to a small group of longtime friends and acquaintances
who formed their own companies and over time, built hundreds more franchised locations.
Hardee’s Food Systems went public in 1963 with Rawls as president.
Gardner, who was vice president of the company, had political ambitions, and left the company
in 1966 when he was elected to the United States House of Representatives.
At the end of the 1960s, the corporation operated nearly 200 restaurants in the Midwest and
Southwestern U.S., as well as its first international locations in Germany.
Hardee's purchased Sandy's in the early 70s, with the last of the restaurants converting
to Hardee's by 1979.
Another acquisition occurred in the late 1970s when Hardee's purchased the Utah-based burger
chain Dee's Drive-In.
During the mid-to-late 1970s, Hardee's saw rapid chain growth and high profits due to
its two key sandwiches: the "Big Twin" and the "Big Deluxe".
The 1980s saw continued growth of the Hardee's brand.
In 1981, Hardee's was purchased by Canadian company Imasco Limited, who then also acquired
Burger Chef from General Foods in 1982, at a cost of $44 million dollars.
New parent company Imasco then converted many of the Burger Chef locations into Hardee's.
Acquisitions continued through the 1990s, with Hardee's acquiring Roy Rogers restaurants,
and culminating with the acquisition of Imasco and the Hardee's chain by CKE Restaurants
Holdings for the sum of $327 million dollars.
CKE Restaurants Holdings, which stands for Carl Karcher Enterprises, is the parent company
of Carl's Jr, which is why the two restaurant brands have so many similarities... but that's
a story for another time.
As of March 2016, CKE held over 3,600 Hardee's franchises, operating in 44 states and 37
foreign countries.
And what happened to Wilber Hardee, the man who started it all?
Well, after selling his remaining stake in his namesake, Wilber Hardee went back to doing
what he did best: opening restaurants.
He opened a chain of food stands named "Little Mint", and when the stock went public, he
made over $2 million.
Over the next 15 years, Hardee had his ups and downs, selling off one franchise, starting
another, and often living lavishly.
He lost his first wife of 35 years, but later remarried a deeply religious woman, with whom
he eventually started a ministry.
Wilber Hardee eventually died on June 20th, 2008 from a heart-attack, just two months
shy of his 90th birthday.
Over the years, much like its namesake, Hardee's has had its share of ups and downs.
Though the chain has since been eclipsed by other brands such as Burger King and KFC,
and has declined in popularity from its position as the fourth largest fast food franchise
during the 1980s, it nonetheless still enjoys strong popularity across the south and midwest
United States.
Thank you for taking the time to watch this brief history of Hardee's.
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