Hardee's, Made from Scratch - Life in America

[Music] in 1960 wilbur hardy was running a restaurant in greenville north carolina called the silo when he heard about a new restaurant that was attracting big crowds the first mcdonald's in north carolina had opened in greensboro the previous year and hardy wanted to know what all the hype was about so he went to check it out for himself he parked in a strategic spot and waited for the lunch crowd to arrive as hardy watched he noted that in one hour they made approximately 168 dollars which was big money on just a 15 cent hamburger so he snapped a picture of mcdonald's and drove home with big plans with the help of a builder hardy constructed his burger stand with mcdonald's in mind the slanted flat roof was held up by large h supports in front and it had two service windows one for ordering and one for picking up when he opened the very first hardees on september 3rd 1960 it featured a limited menu very fast service and low prices hardy's edge was the char grilled burgers which added more flavor the response was immediate and people waited in long lines to order food within the first four months hardees had made nearly ten thousand dollars in profit hardy intended to open another location and began planning for a site in rocky mount north carolina at this point it caught the attention of friends leonard rawls and jim gardner the two friends saw the potential of franchising hardees as a way to get rich and this excited hardy as well after brief negotiations rawls gardner and hardy formed a corporation called hardee's drive-ins inc in 1961 the second location of hardee's opened in rocky mount the opening was a hit and soon after wilbur hardy was being pushed out of his own company with two votes to one rawls and gardner were able to take control of the company without hardy's input disgusted by the situation hardy wanted out and was paid twenty thousand dollars for his stake in the company so just like that within the span of one year hardy had lost his most successful venture without hesitation he went back to what he knew best and opened another restaurant and then another and then another hardy was a chronic restaurateur and he had small successes but it never reached the potential that his original hardee's restaurant had [Music] in august 1963 with rawls as ceo hardee's made its first public stock offering and two years later opened its first restaurant outside the united states it also acquired 200 locations of the sandy's hamburger chain in 1972 that same year hardy stock was first listed on the new york stock exchange the 1970s also brought us a hallmark of hearties the made from scratch biscuits their biscuits were so popular with customers they even trademarked the menu item [Music] hardee's continued to grow rapidly buying out burger chef in 1982 by 1984 it was the fourth largest restaurant chain in america behind mcdonald's burger king and wendy's in 1987 hearties introduced cinnamon raisin biscuits and promoted them with the popular california raisins four small non-posable california raisin figures were offered for an additional dollar with the purchase of a cinnamon raisin biscuit these collectible figures were huge and made the california raisins icons of the 1980s in 1990 hardee's acquired 648 units of the roy rogers chain from the marriott corporation by the early 1990s hardee stood as the third largest fast food company in the world with annual sales in excess of four billion dollars in 1997 california-based cke restaurants acquired hardee's creating a chain of 3828 restaurants in 40 states and 10 foreign countries this is where the merger with carl's jr began over the years both the menu and the logos became one but they kept separate names carl's jr was primarily in the western united states and hardee's was in the midwest south and east in 2003 hardy shook up their burger lineup with the introduction of thick burgers their marketing campaign focused on their ingredients and the 100 black angus beef in 2004 they even introduced the monster thick burger which made competitors burgers look tiny there are only six states that have no hardee's locations and all of them are in the new england area residents of massachusetts connecticut rhode island new hampshire maine vermont and new york may have never had the opportunity to try a fresh-made hardy's biscuit or a thick burger these states also don't have any carl's jr locations wilbur hardy died of a heart attack in 2008 he was 89 years old and was able to watch hardee's grow into a worldwide success for much of the restaurant's history hardy had been written out but just before his death and on the 40th anniversary of the founding of the restaurant he was honored as the founder of the chain upon his death hardee's released a lengthy obituary which was picked up by many major newspapers and wilbur hardy finally received the wide recognition that he had always wanted what do you remember most about hardee's if you were like me it was your go-to breakfast spot or maybe just maybe you were lucky enough to try one of wilbur hardy's 85 other restaurant ventures mints biscuit town hot dog city or beef and shake just to name a few [Music] you

Channel: Recollection Road

Views: 104,398

Keywords: Recollection Road, nostalgia, memories, photos, history, closed, forgotten, business, past, 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, memory, yesteryear, golden age, photo album, oldies, fifties, sixties, abandoned, 20th century, hardees, hardee's, wilber hardee, thickburger, california raisins, biscuits, made from scratch, burger chef, sandys, carls jr, north carolina, greenville, nc, rocky mount, mcdonalds

Id: 9RpT1RzVRC8

Length: 8min 3sec (483 seconds)

Published: Thu Aug 12 2021