My earliest memories are of Hardee’s massive California Raisin campaign. It revolved around the launch of their Cinnamon ‘N’ Raisin Biscuits.
If you were a child of the 1980s like I was, you’ll also remember the little non-poseable figures that could only be acquired at Hardee’s.
I fondly remember enjoying their burgers and pies, but they were only open in my neighborhood for a few years. After that, Hardee’s was still about 20 minutes away in Hialeah until they disappeared from South Florida in the late 1990s.
My Hardee’s rediscovery moment happened during a 2009 road trip to Atlanta. During a stop in Wildwood, Florida, to get some gas, I spotted the Happy Star in the distance.
The star in Hardee’s logo is the same as the Carl’s Jr. logo that I remember as a child. Well, that makes sense since Carl’s Jr. purchased Hardee’s in 1996.
I ordered their 2/3-pound Monster Thickburger. It comes with cheese, bacon, and mayo. Those are actually my favorite fast-food burger toppings.
I also ordered bacon cheese fries. And because I have no self-control, I ordered the Big Hot Ham N’ Cheese to make sure I wouldn’t be able to walk out of there.
If there’s a Hardee’s near you, check it out. There are some good fast food eats. One last thing: don’t forget to eat an apple turnover in my honor!
Since that fateful lunch in Wildwood, I stop at Hardee’s whenever I encounter one on a road food trip.
Hardee’s Food and History
The pictures below are from those road trips, and my original scribblings on BurgerBeast.com can be found right after that. I’ve also included my history of Hardee’s (from my book All About the Burger), which I think you’ll enjoy.
Hardee’s Breakfast
I try to make time to grab some breakfast cause those Hardee’s biscuits are still great.
Even More Hardee’s Food Pictures
The History of Hardee’s Hamburgers
Hardee’s
Year Founded: 1960
City Founded: Greenville, North Carolina
Type: Regional
Founder: Wilber Hardee
Number of Locations at the chain’s peak: currently well over 2,000
Signature Burgers: Huskee, Big Twin, and Big Deluxe
Slogan: “We’re out to win you over.”
On an empty lot in Greenville, North Carolina, Wilber Hardee (not Wilbur as it is commonly misspelled) opened his first namesake restaurant on September 3, 1960. He had visited the first McDonald’s in North Carolina and watched as it grossed $168 over one hour during lunchtime.
Wilber was convinced that he could recreate what they were doing and do it better. He took a picture of the restaurant and drove home to plan out what would become Hardee’s.
Wilber found someone to build him a small building in a similar style to a McDonald’s, using red and white tiles similar to those that covered the iconic McDonald’s structures. The first Hardee’s didn’t have a dining room, tables, a drive-thru, or even carhops. What it did have was two windows, one for ordering and another for picking up food.
The first Hardee’s menu featured fifteen-cent hamburgers, twenty-cent cheeseburgers, fries, fried apple pies, milkshakes, and soft drinks. McDonald’s cooked its burgers on a flat top, while Hardee’s used chargrills, which he believed would give him the edge over the golden arches.
Less than a year after the McDonald’s location that had inspired him had set up shop in Greensboro, North Carolina, Hardee’s opened its doors. The public loved it, and the long lines at the windows proved it.
Second Hardee’s Location Already?
Wilber started on plans to open the second location a year later in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It was here that the trajectory of the Hardee’s chain would change forever.
He met accountant Leonard Rawls and his friend James Gardner. The duo convinced Wilber that by selling Hardee’s franchises, they could all be financially secure for life. Hardee’s Drive-Ins would be incorporated following their agreement, which oddly enough did not involve any money changing hands.
On May 7, 1961, the second Hardee’s opened in Rocky Mount under their new corporation. It was another successful location for them, but things were not good between the partners.
Wilber has given different versions of what happened next. The best known is that he lost a poker game against Rawls and Gardner and lost the controlling interest in Hardee’s.
In another story, they got him drunk and had him sign away any control of future franchise sales. Whatever happened, the result was that all three men had an equal say in the new corporation, which left Wilber outvoted in the company he had founded.
He was extremely angry with the situation; he had signed away everything for twenty or thirty-seven thousand dollars, depending on who was telling the story. When he signed Hardee’s away, there were five stores total.
Going Through Changes
By August 1961, Rawls had become president of Hardee’s with Gardner as vice president. The first Hardee’s franchisees were their friends and acquaintances.
In mid-August 1963, Hardee’s Food Systems went public, selling four-dollar shares that provided three hundred thousand dollars to develop more restaurants. In 1966, James Gardner stepped down as vice president of the company when he was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.
Between the late 1960s and early 1980s, Hardee’s expanded, opening hundreds of new restaurants, purchasing other burger chains, and converting them to Hardee’s brand.
One of those was Sandy’s, which was originally going to be run as a separate company. They didn’t even cook burgers the same way. At least that was the plan in late November 1971, when the 207-location chain was acquired.
But by 1973, the plan had changed, and now 90 percent of Sandy’s would become Hardee’s. The other 10 percent would undergo name changes and then operate independently.
Hardee’s Makes More Purchases
In February 1981, Hardee’s merged with Imasco Ltd. of Montreal, Canada, and became a subsidiary under their banner. On March 10, 1982, Imasco purchased Burger Chef for forty-four million dollars. The conversion from Burger Chef to Hardee’s was gradual, giving the franchises the opportunity to stay on board or go their separate ways.
Hardee’s also purchased the Utah-based twenty-eight-location burger chain Dee’s Drive-Ins in August of 1982. This Dee’s is not to be confused with the Dee’s Drive Inn, which is still open in Louisa, Kentucky, and is a great old-school spot with curb service. By the end of 1982, Hardee’s was at over 2,150 locations in thirty-eight states.
Of course, it didn’t end there. In April 1990, Hardee’s purchased the Roy Rogers Roast Beef and Fried Chicken chain, which put Hardee’s at almost four thousand restaurants.
Hardee’s Gets Purchased
Then, in a weird turn of events, after a rough 1996, during which Hardee’s lost ten million dollars, the 675-unit Carl’s Jr. bought them for $327 million. It appeared that the plan was to convert all Hardee’s into Carl’s Jr. restaurants, but that never materialized.
The charbroiled burgers from Carl’s Jr. replaced Hardee’s current crop of sandwiches. The popular Hardee’s breakfast became part of the Carl’s Jr. menu too. The Carl’s Jr. Happy Star mascot would now be a part of the Hardee’s logo.
Today, Carl’s Jr. is predominantly found on the West Coast, except in Miami, Florida. While Hardee’s is on the East Coast of the United States. Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. now have over 3,800 locations in forty-four states and 40 foreign countries.
I’m trying to remember the name of the burger they had on a round Texas style bun. You could get the ham and cheese sandwich too.
Does anyone remember the packets of sauce for the Hardee’s roast beef sandwiches? I can’t find mention of it anywhere. Would have been around 1982. I loved that sauce, now it’s just bbq. I would drown my fries in it!
I faintly remember them. Your best best i try to find info on the Hardee’s Roast Beef sandwich and work from there. At least, that’s how I would do it.
I have a Hardees recipe question but first some background. Hardee’s was my first job after high school graduation in 1982. Before applying / working there, I’m firmly convinced that I had never even entered a Hardee’s till then. I remember being amazed at all the different food options. They had not just burgers but roast beef, hot ham & cheese ( which in fact the ham and cheese itself WAS microwaved before being placed on a buttered toasted bun ) and even hot dogs! I’d never been to a fast food restaurant before that sold hot dogs! Now my question is this concerning the hot dogs. You could get, as an option, THE most delicious, beanless hot dog chili I’ve ever tasted to this day. Do you or anyone else know the recipe to their hot dog chili? I would love to copycat it for my own hot dog meals and have it bring back tons of memories from working there. Thank you!!
When I was in the Army stationed at Ft Riley I had the best Berger at a Hardies in 1975. Much better than Carls Jr that I was used to in California. I went to a Hardies in IND in about 2012 and it had a totally different flavor, similar to Carls Jr. of today which is not the Cadillac of Bergers it was in California in the 1970’s.
IMHO 2 top notch Bergers took a nose dive some where between 1976 and 2012.
Can any one tell me how this happened???
Hardees was best known as the career crusher, before Carl’s Jr.
Till they got crushed!
I wonder if you could tell me in what year Hardee’s first added roast beef to their menu? I spent a LOT of time at the Hardee’s in Glassboro, NJ during my college career, 1976-1980. I don’t not remember roast beef being on the menu at that time, and I am in an argument with a good friend about that. Thanks!
Roast beef was part of Hardee’s menu during the late 1970s, sold as the Big Roast Beef Sandwich. I worked at one of the few original walk up Hardee’s restaurants starting around late 1979 and it had been on the menu for at least a year, perhaps two. The marinated roasts came in vacuum packs and went into a rotisserie oven before the restaurant opened for the day at 6am so that the roast could be ready for slicing by lunch, beginning at 10:30am. Every now and then a roast would be too rare in the center and we’d have to suspend sales until it cooked further. There were no microwaves in restaurants back then.
Not sure is this posted before, but I wonder if you could tell me when Hardees added the roast beef sandwich to the menu. I ate there just about every day from 1976-1981 and I have no memory of roast beef being on the menu.
Can you tell me what year Hardee’s put the roast beef sandwich on the menu? I ate there almost every day between 1976 and 1981 and my memory is that they did NOT have roast beef on the menu during that period. Am ib remembering correctly?
What sauce was on the big deluxe
Hardee’s version of 1000 island dressing – not much different than what was on McDonald’s Big Mac. Each company produced their own version, but they tasted very similar. My younger brother worked at McDonald’s while I worked at Hardee’s. We’d have little “for fun” taste test comparisons with friends every now and then, complete with side bets. General consensus was that both sauces were very close variants of the salad dressing.
mayonase
and?
Hardees aquired 70 Chip’s hamburger locations in about 1966.The northern chips locations did not become Hardees. Some locations are still in business in Wisc. .Orlando had 2 Chips locations.Some Chips locations were ex hardees locations such as Wilson NC, Wilmington NC.
Never heard of Chip’s Hamburgers but I just added the two Wisconsin locations to my road trip list! Thanks.
I remember when Hardee’s bought the two or three Chips in Raleigh N C