 Logo since 2018 | |
 Hardee's restaurant in Salem, Virginia | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Fast-food restaurants |
| Founded | June 23, 1960 Rocky Mount, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Founder | Wilber Hardee |
| Headquarters | 6700 Tower Circle Franklin, Tennessee, U.S. |
Number of locations | 5,812 (February 2016)[1] |
Area served | United States, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Pakistan, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates |
Key people | Ned Lyerly (CEO) |
| Products | |
| Parent | Imasco (1981–1997) CKE Restaurants (1997–present) |
| Website | hardees.com |
Hardee's Restaurants LLC is an American fast-food restaurant chain operated by CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc. ("CKE") with locations primarily in the Southern and Midwestern United States. The company has evolved through several corporate ownerships since its establishment in 1960 in North Carolina.
In April 1997, CKE Restaurants Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Carl's Jr., paid $327 million to Montreal-based Imasco Limited for Hardee's.[2] The merger created a chain of 3,828 restaurants – 3,152 Hardee's outlets in 40 states and 10 foreign countries and 676 Carl's Jr. outlets, primarily in California. In June 2018, former CKE CEO Jason Marker announced that Carl's Jr. and Hardee's would become separate brands, claiming that CKE's racy advertising and marketing campaigns were incompatible with a family-oriented chain like Hardee's.[3] In April 2019, Ned Lyerly, a 30-year veteran of the company and formerly president of CKE's International division, was named CEO, replacing Jason Marker.
- ^ "Complete List of Hardee's Locations". aggdata.com. Archived from the original on August 5, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
- ^ Canedy, Dana (April 29, 1997). "CKE Restaurants, Parent of Carl's Jr., Buying Hardee's". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on April 23, 2016. Retrieved April 11, 2016.
- ^ "Hardee's, Carl's Jr. chains part ways in fast-food image shakeup Archived February 12, 2019, at the Wayback Machine." USA Today. 2018-06-19. Retrieved 2018-03-07.