Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by jamcool »

It ain't been the same since Carl Karcher died, which happens to many businesses.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by CalItalian »

storewanderer wrote:I ate in a Hardees yesterday and it is really not entirely like Carl's. The menu is kind of different. The ingredients are the same and different.

For instance at Hardees there is no Western, they do not have the Western Sauce that goes on a Carl's Western, there is no zucchini, there are no criss cut fries, there is no Santa Fe Sauce so no Santa Fe Chicken Sandwich.

Hardees has both regular and spicy chicken tenders (I think these are the same as Carl's, the regular ones).

Some Hardees offer fried chicken (bone in). Some offer roast beef sandwiches. Some offer curly fries. The one I was at yesterday did not offer any of those things.

But Hardees has a "hot ham and cheese" sandwich.

Hardees offers "beer battered onion rings" while Carl's does not, Carls offers some other kind of onion ring.

The "California Classic" at Carl's (seems to be a bit of a copy of the In N Out Double Double) uses a small plain bun while the "Hardee Classic" at Hardees (same sandwich generally) uses a large sesame seed bun. All of the buns at Hardees are different than the buns at Carl's.

Hardees sells Mexican Food under the "Red Burrito" label. The basic ground beef taco, the ground beef seems to be the same one used at Carl's "Green Burrito." However at Hardees the taco shell is a pre-packaged thing whereas at Carl's the shell is freshly fried in store. Also at Hardees the cheese on the taco is a standard thickness shredded cheddar while the cheese on the taco at Carl's is a finely shredded cheddar jack blend.

Also at the "Red Burrito" at Hardees the spanish rice served is a traditional red/green bell pepper flavored rice. At "Green Burrito" at Carl's, the rice served is a cilantro lime rice.

I suspect there are many other "the same but different" situations between the two menus on other items as well. The Hardee's menu has a lot fewer burgers than Carl's.

Operationally we know Carl's has historically been stronger. But I have noticed quite a bit of slipping in the operation of Carl's locations the past few years as they have refranchised various corporate locations in California (they were tip top well run as corporate locations, now as franchise locations, not so much) and keep making menu changes/additions that make it harder for the operators. Hardee's, on the other hand, has gone through so much operational turmoil over the years, it seems like they are running better now than they used to; the locations that have managed to stay open, anyway.
Carl's Jr. certainly does have beer battered onion rings and they've had them for quite some time. I even got a coupon for them, amongst many others, this past week in their newly retailored mailer. Look at DoorDash, that does delivering for a number of their franchise locations, and you'll find it. https://www.doordash.com/store/carl-s-j ... nto-67301/

If you look at the website, they have two made from scratch biscuits, one for California only.

Carl's Jr. does have a ham, egg and cheese breakfast sandwich (of which they have the wrong picture of on the website).

As for hamburger buns, there are 5 choices (6 if you include lettuce) for some products.

Not all Green Burrito items are served at all locations. I've been to a some Carl's Jr. locations that don't serve any Green Burrito items.

The one thing I notice about Carl's Jr. website and app menu is it is missing many items that are available. They don't even list one of the two biggest items they are currently promoting, The Breakfast Burger.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by J-Man »

For me, Carl's Jr. is one of those places where you know the prices are so high because they're ALWAYS issuing coupons. So if you don't have the coupons with you, you bypass it in favor of another place where the list prices are more reasonable and you know they don't usually have coupons -- like Wendy's.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by pseudo3d »

Carl's Jr. has to be pushing around more real estate than their store count was suggest...they closed their location in Waco, Texas in the early 1980s and leased it out to Whataburger, which has since moved on. They're remodeling it into a Popeyes again. Still, it's interesting that they still held onto the store for decades, and even with Carl's Jr. having a presence in the area (not a big one, but it's in Central Texas), they chose not to reopen it as a Carl's Jr.

The burger market is probably too competitive in Texas, you already have a number of restaurants offering hamburgers, McDonald's, Whataburger, Wendy's, Burger King, Dairy Queen is common and has burgers, Jack in the Box, Sonic (VERY common, even in small towns), In-N-Out now too (and that's growing).
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by Brian Lutz »

Carl's Jr. is one of those restaurants I have a hard time eating at because everything on the menu feels so heavy that it doesn't matter what you order, you walk out feeling like you ate about 6,000 calories (I feel exactly the same way about Jack in the Box.) Not that I don't want a big burger every once in a while, but if I'm going to "spend" the calories on a big burger there's lots of places I'd rather go for it (such as Red Robin, In N Out if I'm near one, Burgermaster or occasionally Five Guys) than Carl's Jr.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by storewanderer »

The Carl's onion rings are not the same ones as Hardee's sells (despite the website pictures being the same note the Carl's site says "Onion Rings" and the Hardee's site says "Beer Battered Onion Rings"). The Hardee's onion rings are a completely smooth (no crumbs) but very greasy battered coating and have a more bitter flavor vs. the Carl's one with a crumbly coating and the flavor of the outside is not bitter at all; entirely different (as is texture). I am not even sure the same onion type is being used for these two rings.

Carl's seems to have given up on selling "small" menu items. This has cost them a ton of my business, too. Junior burgers are not promoted at all (available, at a high price though, like 1.99 for a junior hamburger that has nothing but onions and ketchup). The small chicken strip wraps made a good snack and have long since been discontinued, as were the chicken strip sandwiches (contained 2 strips) which have again long been discontinued.

The Hardee's hot ham and cheese is sliced ham (like Arby's). The ham used on the breakfast sandwiches at Carl's is a thicker ham and not the same one. Not sure what ham is used on breakfast sandwiches at Hardee's.

Carl's having 5 or 6 bun types is absurd and you point out one of the problems this chain has... and it is no wonder they have execution problems.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by jamcool »

If fried food tastes bitter it means the oil in the fryer needs to be changed
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by storewanderer »

Here we are almost two months later. In my local Carls today, all employee name badges were still the happy star, the uniform the manager was wearing had a happy star, one of the cooks had a happy star hat on, but a couple employees did have faceless star shirts on, and the burger wrapper was still the happy star. The drink and fry cup were the faceless star.
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Re: Carl's Jr/Hardees "killing" Happy Star?

Post by jamcool »

The "face" is back on the star-in an updated version-in the newest Carl's Jr. ads
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