Carl’s Jr.® Now Serving Hardee’s Made from ScratchTM Biscuits in Southern California

Free Biscuit Day Nov. 16 in L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura Counties

CARPINTERIA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Carl’s Jr.^® is now offering Hardee’s^® Made From Scratch^TM Biscuits at more than 300 restaurants in Southern California (in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties). While some other restaurant chains think that machine-produced, frozen biscuits are acceptable, Carl’s Jr. believes that nothing compares to steaming-hot, buttermilk biscuits that are made fresh from scratch throughout the morning.

“Carl’s Jr. is already well known for sit-down restaurant-quality lunch and dinner menu items, like our line of 100% Black Angus beef Six Dollar Burgers, our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts, and our Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders and Sandwiches”

To celebrate the arrival of Hardee’s Made From Scratch Biscuits, Carl’s Jr. restaurants throughout the region will host Free Biscuit Day on the morning of Wed., Nov. 16. Dine-in breakfast customers can get a free Sausage Biscuit during breakfast hours. No purchase is necessary; one per guest, who must be present, while supplies last.

Long a staple at sister-brand Hardee’s, the signature Made from Scratch Biscuits have been helping folks of all ages across the Southeast and Midwest rise and shine for more than 30 years. The world has changed a lot since the mid-1970s, but not Hardee’s biscuits. Today at Carl’s Jr. they’re still made fresh daily by dedicated biscuit bakers who arrive to work in the early-morning hours to prepare and roll the dough by hand, and bake the biscuits to their signature fluffy texture and golden-brown color. Even after pulling the hot biscuits from the oven, the biscuit bakers check temperature, height and weight of the biscuits, ensuring that only perfect Made From Scratch Biscuits are served.

“Hardee’s customers have been enjoying Made From Scratch buttermilk Biscuits for generations,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer at CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s. “So, about two years ago we began testing their appeal in Carl’s Jr. markets in the West, but it was a very big undertaking, requiring new equipment and intensive training since there is as much art as there is science to making great-tasting biscuits from scratch. Fortunately, the previous test markets did very well so Carl’s Jr. customers in the L.A. area can now enjoy real Southern biscuits every morning with eggs, cheese and their choice of sausage, ham or bacon.”

Carl’s Jr. restaurants in the Los Angeles area were fitted with commercial ovens and dedicated biscuit preparation tables, and the restaurant staff received training from regional biscuit trainers who traveled to Hardee’s headquarters in St. Louis to hone their biscuit-making skills. A senior restaurant operations executive from Hardee’s was even moved to Los Angeles to oversee the roll-out of Made From Scratch Biscuits in the market. Today, the majority of the L.A.-area Carl’s Jr. restaurants are serving biscuits, with the remainder slated to be offering them by year’s end.

“Carl’s Jr. is already well known for sit-down restaurant-quality lunch and dinner menu items, like our line of 100% Black Angus beef Six Dollar Burgers, our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts, and our Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders and Sandwiches,” added Haley. “The roll-out of our Made From Scratch buttermilk Biscuits now ensures that our breakfast menu will be viewed the same way by hungry diners throughout the Los Angeles area.”

Carl’s Jr. offers a variety of Made From Scratch buttermilk Biscuits starting at just $1.69, including the Sausage, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit and the Ham, Egg & Cheese Biscuit. Guests can order any biscuit in a combo with Hash Brown Nuggets and Coffee, Orange Juice or a soft drink starting at $2.99. For diners who can’t make up their minds, there is the aptly named Monster Biscuit, featuring egg, sausage, bacon, ham and two pieces of cheese between a fluffy buttermilk biscuit. A Southern favorite, Biscuit ’N’ Gravy is also offered, as is a sweet Strawberry Biscuit. Prices may vary by location. Biscuits are only available during breakfast hours.

The advertising campaign, created by El Segundo-based ad agency David&Goliath, includes a commercial featuring a dapper Southern gentleman at a Southern California beach. The humorous, “fish-out-of-water” ad, titled From The South, follows the Southern gent as he mysteriously appears on the beach with a basket of Made from Scratch Biscuits and offers them to several beachgoers. The ad can be viewed on Carl’s Jr. YouTube channel www.youtube.com/carlsjr.

Hardee’s biscuit-centric breakfast day-part accounts for about 45 percent of overall sales, among the highest in the industry, while Carl’s Jr. breakfast sales account for only about 15 percent of overall sales. By comparison, Bloomberg speculates that industry behemoth McDonald’s does about 25 percent in breakfast sales, while foodservice consumer research firm Sandelman & Associates estimates that 10-11 percent of all fast-food sales are generated at breakfast. The premium-quality offering of Made From Scratch Biscuits will complement and expand the Carl’s Jr. breakfast menu that includes the unique Breakfast Burger and hearty breakfast burritos.

Made From Scratch Biscuits are currently available in other Carl’s Jr. markets, including Oklahoma, Utah, Texas, Bakersfield, Calif., Tucson, Ariz., and Spokane, Wash.

About Carl’s Jr.

Carl’s Jr. is celebrating 70 years in the quick-service industry. What began as a lone hot dog cart in Los Angeles, Calif. in 1941 is today a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc., of Carpinteria, Calif. As of the end of Q2 fiscal 2012, CKE, through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,202 franchised, licensed or company-operated restaurants in 42 states and in 23 countries, including 1,278 Carl's Jr. restaurants and 1,914 Hardee's^® restaurants. For more information, or to find a Carl’s Jr. near you, go to www.carlsjr.com. Carl’s Jr. social media sites include www.facebook.com/carlsjr, www.twitter.com/carlsjr and www.youtube.com/carlsjr.

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