Hardee's, founded in Greenville, North Carolina, is a US fast-food restaurant which has been frequently criticized for its especially low hamburger quality that was kept afloat largely on the shoulders of its superb breakfast menu. The chain, with more than 2000 restaurants, existed just about everywhere in the nation outside of the West coast. As a result, the popular West-coast based Carl's Jr. acquired the company in 1997, seeing it as a quick-and-easy method to expand nationwide. Over time, the Hardee's restaurants were converted to serve the much higher-quality burgers of Carl's Jr, and also took on the Carl's Jr. star logo in the process. The stigma of the Hardee's name, however, continued to drive away customers, and initially many analysts considered the buyout a bad investment.

However, with the introduction of the highly promoted "thickburger" in 2003, which was made from high-quality Angus beef, Hardee's revenue began to increase. Thickburgers are sold in sizes up to 2/3-pound pre-cooked weight. The item was so popular that Carl's Jr. introduced the thickburger to their menu (retitled the "Six-Dollar Burger," allegedly because it was of the same quality as a burger one would pay six dollars for in a sit-down restaurant such as Chili's), along with some of Hardee's popular breakfast items. In November 2004, Hardee's introduced the Monster Thickburger; containing 1,420 calories and 107 grams, it is argubly the largest hamburger on any American fast food menu.

The official name of the Carl's Jr/Hardee's parent company is CKE Restaurants.

Hardee's advertising

In the early days of the takeover by Carls Jr., Hardee's used the anthromorphized smiling star logo that Carls Jr. had used for many years. "The Hardees Star" as it was now called appeared in a series of commercials played by a dwarf in a costume likeness of the star. The star remains Hardee's logo but ceased appearing in the commercials with the advent of the Thickburger campaign.

Early commercials made a point of acknowledging and apologizing for the poor quality of Hardee's cuisine and service in the past. A 2004 ad featuring tight close-up shots of a busty model eating a Thickburger while riding a mechanical bull was criticized for its apparent sexism. A follow-up ad showed a woman stuffing her entire fist into her mouth to demonstrate the size of the Thickburger.

External links

• Hardee's website (http://www.hardees.com/)