2006 present logo type wholly owned subsidiary industry restaurants founded rocky mount north carolina 1960 ; 56 years ago 1960 founder wilber hardee headquarters st. louis missouri u.s. number of locations 1 944 january 2013 1 and 5 812 february 2016 2 key people andrew puzder ceo products fast food including hamburgers french fries and milkshakes parent cke restaurants website hardees.com hardee s food systems inc. is an american based 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. 3 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 . contents 1 history 2 controversies disputes and legal issues 2.1 burger chef copyright dispute 2.2 harvey s controversy 3 advertising 3.1 criticism 4 international franchises 5 see also 6 references 7 external links history edit a hardee s in cairo georgia hardee s founder wilber hardee opened his first restaurant in greenville north carolina on september 3 1960 . 4 after a year of success wilber decided to look into expanding his restaurant and opening another location so he met with james gardner and leonard rawls to discuss doing so . 5 shortly thereafter the first company store was opened in rocky mount north carolina in may 1961 by james carson gardner and leonard rawls on mcdonald street in on north church street in rocky mount known within the chain as building number 1 . that location was demolished in 2007 after 10 years of vacancy and replaced with a veteran s park named for jack laughery a former hardee s chairman and veteran . 6 according to wilber hardee gardner and rawls won a controlling share of the company from him in a game of poker . after realizing that he had lost control over his namesake company hardee sold his remaining shares to them as well . 7 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 had political ambitions and left the company when he was elected to the united states house of representatives in 1966 . 5 the 1964 menu included hamburger 15 cents cheeseburger 20 cents fries 10 cents apple turnovers 15 cents milk 12 cents coffee 10 cents coke pepsi root beer and orange soda 15 cents and 10 cents and milk shakes chocolate strawberry vanilla 20 cents . strawberry shakes were created from vanilla by addition of a berry syrup which had to be mixed with a spindle . 5 at the end of the 60s the corporation operated nearly 200 restaurants in the midwest and southwestern u.s. as well as its first international locations in germany . 8 hardee s purchased sandy s in 1972 with the last of the restaurants converting to hardee s by 1979 . citation needed during the mid and late 1970s hardee s saw rapid chain growth and high profits on the strength of its two key sandwiches the big twin and the big deluxe . citation needed another acquisition occurred in the late 1970s when hardee s purchased the utah based burger chain dee s drive in . the logo used by hardee s typically depicted in orange on a blue or brown background and used from 1976 1999 until adopting the happy star logo from carl s jr. . hardee s was purchased by canadian company imasco limited in 1981 . in 1982 general foods sold burger chef to imasco . citation needed a new management team in the early 1980s seeking to cut costs changed the signature burger recipe and eliminated the flagship menu items of the big twin and the big deluxe . for a few years in the early 1990s hardee s outlets sold the popular fried chicken recipe gained from the roy rogers fast food chain after it was acquired hoping it could compete with kentucky fried chicken . citation needed in addition to roy rogers hardee s also owned rax roast beef for a period of time and sold roast beef sandwiches throughout the hardee s system . in april 1997 cke restaurants holdings inc. the parent company of carl s jr. bought hardee s from imasco for 327 million . 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 . citation needed in 2001 hardee s headquarters moved to st. louis missouri . in 2005 hardee s introduced hand scooped ice cream shakes & malts . in september 2013 it was announced that hardee s would expand into the northeastern united states . in april 2015 hardee s announced the opening of its 300th restaurant in the middle east with longtime franchisee the americana group . in 2015 nation s restaurant news ranked hardee s as the no. 28 foodservice chain by sales in the united states through 2011 . carl s jr. was ranked at no. 37 . combined sales would rank the two at no. 15 . in 2013 qsr listed hardee s at no. 20 and carl s jr. at no. 24 ; if combined they would have been listed at no. 14 . 9 in july 2015 hardee s announced that it would be offering the all natural burger which launched at sister chain carl s jr. restaurants in december 2014 . 10 as of march 2016 cke has a total of 3 664 franchised or company operated restaurants in 44 states and 37 foreign countries and u.s. territories . 11 controversies disputes and legal issues edit burger chef copyright dispute edit in january 2007 hardee s had a challenge filed against it with the u.s. patents and trademarks office by river west brands llc of chicago for the use of the burger chef trademark and name . shortly thereafter hardee s reissued the burger chef big shef sandwich in terre haute indiana as a trial offering and later in additional indiana markets and dayton ohio for a limited time . the reissue of the big shef has also utilized the burger chef name and logo in advertisements in the markets in which it is offered and claimed to provide burger chef fans with their big shef fix . on april 16 2009 river west brands dropped their petition for cancellation and both parties agreed to pay their own attorney s fees . 12 harvey s controversy edit due to a trademark dispute with canada s harvey s burger chain the hardee s brand name can not be used in the country . instead cke restaurants operates exclusively under the carl s jr. banner . 13 advertising edit a hardee s in hong kong a new hardee s logo was unveiled in 2006 that featured script lettering and retained the iconic happy star further unifying the hardee s and carl s jr. brands . hardee s also marketed special super bowl celebratory pins in the early 1990s . citation needed in january 2015 carl s jr. released a commercial online featuring model charlotte mckinney advertising its new all natural burger to air regionally during super bowl xlix . the ad features mckinney walking around a farmers market implying that she is all natural and uses double entendres to suggest that she is naked with strategically placed items in the market until it reveals mckinney in a bikini eating the all natural burger . critics suggest that the ad sets feminism back four decades while others including mckinney s elderly grandfather enjoyed the ad . 14 15 16 the ad now features hardee s cobranding as the all natural burger is now offered by hardee s. as of march 2016 the ad has received over 4.5 billion media impressions worldwide and more than 12 million views on the chains youtube channel . citation needed criticism edit several hardee s ad campaigns in the 2000s have been criticized by groups including parents television council for their sexually suggestive nature . a campaign titled more than a piece of meat featured scantily clad women appearing to receive sexual gratification from consuming hardee s products and name our holes an ad campaign and website promoting hardee s biscuit holes . 17 18 international franchises edit the only remaining international hardee s franchises are located in countries in the middle east and pakistan most being owned and operated by americana group . 19 the americana group opened the middle east s first hardee s restaurant in kuwait in june 1980 . 11 today there are over 300 hardee s restaurants throughout the middle east . 11 specifically in the middle east the hardee s menu does not include any pork items and each beef is certified halal due to religious and cultural beliefs . see also edit companies portal food portal jack laughery carl s jr. references edit cke restaurants inc. announces preliminary unaudited fourth quarter and full year fiscal 2013 results . retrieved 4 september 2015 . complete list of hardee s locations . aggdata.com . retrieved 10 june 2016 . canedy dana 1997 04 29 . cke restaurants parent of carl s jr. buying hardee s . the new york times . issn 0362 4331 . retrieved 2016 04 11 . robert kammerer and candace pearce images of america greenville arcadia publishing 2001 p114 a b c the story of hardee s . our state magazine . retrieved 2016 04 11 . wral 12 march 2007 . to go order first hardee s franchise demolished wral.com . hardee s founder wilbur hardee dead at 89 food inc. msnbc.com . kieler ashlee . how carl s jr. & hardee s became one giant burger chain with two names . consumerist . retrieved 2016 04 11 . top 100 chains u.s. sales . carl s jr. and hardee s go all national with all natural burgers cke restaurants investor center . a b c cke restaurants holdings inc. announces opening of 300th restaurant in middle east cke restaurants investor center . http ttabvue.uspto.gov ttabvue ttabvue 92046880 can 32.pdf carl s jr. set to launch in ontario . canadian restaurant news . racy super bowl ad draws controversy wtnh 01 22 2015 news carl s jr. s new super bowl commercial featuring a naked model may be too hot for tv watch now e 01 22 2015 charlotte mckinney s dad friggin loved her carl s jr. super bowl commercial people 01 29 2015 parents television council weekly wrap http www.parentstv.org retrieved 2009 07 02 clickorlando.com . americana group homepage . retrieved 4 september 2015 . historical promotional franchise materials on display in lobby of hardee s chipley florida as of 27 december 2006 . sign options drawing by allen displays dated 29 december 1964 . external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to hardee s. official website hardee s arabia official website v t e fast food and fast casual restaurant chains in the united states chicken chains coffeehouse chains pizza chains hamburgers a & w back yard big boy burger king carl s jr. checkers rally s cook out fatburger five guys freddy s fuddruckers the habit hardee s in n out jack in the box johnny rockets krystal mcdonald s roy rogers shake shack smashburger sonic steak n shake wayback wendy s whataburger white castle asian l & l hawaiian barbecue manchu wok panda express pei wei asian diner pick up