Burgers, Dogs, & Pizza, Oh My!

Posts Tagged ‘Hardee’s’

I admit I’ve become fussy about fast food (and C-store) breakfasts.  Think I’ve covered them all, and some are pretty good, some are absolutely dreadful. Some could be made better with very little effort or expense.

I stopped in a Hardees/Carl’s Jr on a recent road trip, in search of a menu item I’ve had before, the “Monster Biscuit (review)” which is egg, cheese, bacon, sausage and ham together!

Hardee’s gets extra points off the top for making their biscuits fresh, in house daily. Not sure anywhere else does that. In any case, the Monster Biscuit was nowhere to be found, so I thought I would try the Ham Biscuit, figuring I’d be disappointed cause they would probably use the standard fast food “ham” (which isn’t, is it?).

Lo and behold, behold and lo, no the biscuit had REAL ham on it, much like one of my other favorites, the ham biscuit at Bojangles, a southern chain.

So, surprise!  I’m ok with Chik Filet’s breakfast biscuits (also because they have tots), and Einstein’s (because they cook them to order).  I found a bologna breakfast biscuit in a c-store in Tennessee last week.  That was different.

I enjoy Sonic’s “Toaster” breakfast sandwiches (review), but I wish the toast was crisp instead of limp.  Could be if they toasted it on the spot.  Starbucks has a pretty good offering, which I will write about later this week.  But it’s spendy.

Finally, something else I will cover this week, spoiler alert, Dunkin Donuts toasted breakfast sandwich.  Just plain dreadful.  If you go to the search bar above, and use gas station or c-store as a search term, you can discover other stops I’ve made along the breakfast highway!

Hardees Breakfast Biscuit Review

First opened in Greenville, SC, Hardee’s is a ‘semi-national’ chain, mostly in the Eastern United States, and part of CKE (Carl Karcher Enterprises) which operates Carl’s Jr. in the Western US; the two share some menu items.

Hardee’s places a big emphasis on their breakfast menu, and offers a wider variety of choices than most competitors. Additionally, they push a “prepared fresh” method with their items.  They bake their biscuits in-house, from scratch daily, and cook the other ingredients upon order.

On a whim, I picked up their “Monster Biscuit”, which is a pile of egg, bacon, sausage, shaved ham, and cheese.  It surprised me on every level, and is surely one of the best fast-food breakfast offerings in the land.  My only preference for “improvement” would be that Hardee’s also has a ‘country ham’ biscuit, and I think I’d prefer that ham on the Monster.   Nevertheless, this is a good product, and as the advertising says, prepared fresh.  Grab a couple today. Update 2/2016, Hardees has added a Hillshire Farms Smoked Sausage breakfast biscuit to their menu.  Locator.

                    Hardees Monster Biscuit Review

Hardees Monster Biscuit Review

McDonald’s was late in coming to my city.   One had to drive  150 miles to get to one when I was growing up.   But that’s not to say my town was fast food-less.   In addition to locally-owned establishments, our first burger chain entry was Henry’s, followed a few years later by Sandy’s.

Both were Midwestern chains, eventually both reaching between 150-200 outlets before fading from the scene.    Sandy’s was started in Illinois by a couple of guys who had one of the first McDonald’s franchises, got mad at Ray Kroc, sued him, then started up their own deal.

Henry’s was started as an off-shoot of Bressler’s Ice Cream, in order to cash in on the drive-in craze, and to have additional outlets to sell their ice cream.   In the early days, Henry’s outlets far-outnumber McDonald’s.

I remember our family going to Henry’s on very rare occasions, probably when my mom was managing the brood because my dad was out of town.  I do remember the sign that touted the 15 cent burger, or ten for a buck promotion.

Sandy’s was a bit more full-line, with a “Scottish” theme, eventually sold out and converted the units to Hardees.

Here’s an old Sandy’s commercial.

McDonald’s launches Angus, Carl’s and Hardee’s take umbrage. An article in the WSJ yesterday chronicles the marketing efforts of these three as they attempt to garner a larger share of the large burger market. Feeling that the McD angus was a copycat of CKE’s (Carl Karcher Enterprises, parent company of both Carl’s Jr and Hardees), Carl’s took aim on Wednesday to introduce the Big Carl, a direct snub at the Big Mac. The Big Carl contains more than two times as much beer as the Big Mac, and at a lower price point. The Big Carl will be backed by a television campaign that will poke fun at both the competitor’s sandwich and their marketing methods.

In September, Carl’s Jr. will have a campaign to issue refunds to people who claim they like Big Mac’s better. They will also employ a guerrilla marketing strategy of having a mobile unit outside McDonald’s in Los Angeles and offering to trade diners their Big Macs for Big Carl’s.

Hardees continues to push its Thickburger line, which is also “Angus” beef. The largest thickburger is the Monster entry, at 1420 calories, compared to McD’s bacon and cheese Angus, which is a mere 790 calories.

Not many places in the U.S. you will find this, unless you are cruising the eastern Maritime provinces of Canada!  But now,  Hardee’s has added a fried bologna biscuit, with egg and cheese, to its extensive breakfast sandwich menu.  No word on whether or not sister chain Carl’s, Jr., will follow suit, but that would sure be nice for Western US residents!   And yes, Hardee’s (are you old enough to remember when their slogan was “Charco-Broiled?”) spells its bologna  O-S-C-A-R!

The “French Maid”.   Roast beef on a burger w/ au jus.  Tried it?   Thanks, hardees! http://is.gd/1ykv6