Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s debut Steakhouse Burger
Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are launching this week a new Steakhouse Burger limited-time offer, just days after Wendy’s debuted its new Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy Cheeseburger.
Available starting Tuesday at Hardee’s and Wednesday at sister brand Carl’s Jr., the Steakhouse Burger features a charbroiled Black Angus beef patty with A1 Steak Sauce, Swiss and crumbled blue cheeses, crispy onion rings, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a seeded bun.
Recommended prices range from $3.39 for a single Steakhouse Burger at Carl’s Jr., to $5.39 for the Six Dollar version, which has a nearly half-pound patty. At Hardee’s, prices range from $3.29 for the quarter-pound Steakhouse Burger, to $4.99 for the Six Dollar Thickburger version.
Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent CKE Restaurants Inc., said in a statement that the chains have been offering “sit-down quality” burgers for years now, “but this one really ups the ante.”
The company has tested burgers with the various toppings in the past, but none reached the level required for a nationwide launch, he said.
“It wasn’t until we ran across a burger in a steakhouse with all three toppings [A1 Steak Sauce, blue cheese and onion rings] combined that we knew we had found it,” Haley said. “In fact, the resulting new Steakhouse Burgers garnered the highest consumer research scores we’ve ever seen in a test market.”
The Steakhouse Burger is also the first new beef product to be introduced at either chain in 2011, following the earlier debut of hand-breaded chicken tenders and new turkey burgers.
CKE’s advertising agency, David & Goliath, thought the Steakhouse Burger was so good, it “tasted like they were made by the god of hamburgers,” a notion that has become the theme of an advertising campaign.
In television commercials, “Hamblor,” the mythical god of hamburgers, demonstrates how he makes the Steakhouse Burgers in his fabled kingdom, with “adoring” and scantily clad goddesses by his side, along with his trusty St. Bernard dog, who carries a cask of A1 sauce.
Watch the commercial; story continues below
The campaign will include a digital sweepstakes starting Sept. 26 on Facebook, and the brands will feature gift cards and movie merchandise from the film “Immortals,” including the chance to win a trip for two to the Hollywood premier in November.
For a limited time, 15-ounce retail bottles of A1 Steak Sauce also will feature the Steakhouse Burgers on the label with a link to a $1 coupon for a combo at Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr.
Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Restaurants Inc. operates, licenses or franchises 3,202 restaurants in 42 states and 23 countries.
Contact Lisa Jennings at lisa.jennings@penton.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout
Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s debut Steakhouse Burger
Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s are launching this week a new Steakhouse Burger limited-time offer, just days after Wendy’s debuted its new Dave’s Hot ‘N Juicy Cheeseburger.
Available starting Tuesday at Hardee’s and Wednesday at sister brand Carl’s Jr., the Steakhouse Burger features a charbroiled Black Angus beef patty with A1 Steak Sauce, Swiss and crumbled blue cheeses, crispy onion rings, lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise on a seeded bun.
Recommended prices range from $3.39 for a single Steakhouse Burger at Carl’s Jr., to $5.39 for the Six Dollar version, which has a nearly half-pound patty. At Hardee’s, prices range from $3.29 for the quarter-pound Steakhouse Burger, to $4.99 for the Six Dollar Thickburger version.
Brad Haley, chief marketing officer for Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent CKE Restaurants Inc., said in a statement that the chains have been offering “sit-down quality” burgers for years now, “but this one really ups the ante.”
The company has tested burgers with the various toppings in the past, but none reached the level required for a nationwide launch, he said.
“It wasn’t until we ran across a burger in a steakhouse with all three toppings [A1 Steak Sauce, blue cheese and onion rings] combined that we knew we had found it,” Haley said. “In fact, the resulting new Steakhouse Burgers garnered the highest consumer research scores we’ve ever seen in a test market.”
The Steakhouse Burger is also the first new beef product to be introduced at either chain in 2011, following the earlier debut of hand-breaded chicken tenders and new turkey burgers.
CKE’s advertising agency, David & Goliath, thought the Steakhouse Burger was so good, it “tasted like they were made by the god of hamburgers,” a notion that has become the theme of an advertising campaign.
In television commercials, “Hamblor,” the mythical god of hamburgers, demonstrates how he makes the Steakhouse Burgers in his fabled kingdom, with “adoring” and scantily clad goddesses by his side, along with his trusty St. Bernard dog, who carries a cask of A1 sauce.
Watch the commercial; story continues below
The campaign will include a digital sweepstakes starting Sept. 26 on Facebook, and the brands will feature gift cards and movie merchandise from the film “Immortals,” including the chance to win a trip for two to the Hollywood premier in November.
For a limited time, 15-ounce retail bottles of A1 Steak Sauce also will feature the Steakhouse Burgers on the label with a link to a $1 coupon for a combo at Hardee’s or Carl’s Jr.
Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Restaurants Inc. operates, licenses or franchises 3,202 restaurants in 42 states and 23 countries.
Contact Lisa Jennings at lisa.jennings@penton.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout
The latest chefs on the move
Stephen DeMarco has been appointed corporate chef for Villa Enterprises’ full-service restaurants, based in Morristown, N.J.
Most recently, DeMarco was the chef of Harvest Restaurant Group’s Roots Steakhouse, with locations in Morristown and Summit, N.J.
“My philosophy on food is to keep it simple,” he said. “Let the ingredients speak for themselves and not get lost in too many flavors. After all, guests should know what they are getting; it shouldn’t be a guessing game. I like to stick with simple flavor profiles and foods that naturally pair well together.”
Benjamin Knack, former chef de cuisine of Sel de La Terre in Boston and a past contestant on Fox TV’s “Hell’s Kitchen” cooking competition program, was named executive chef of the Bedford Village Inn in Bedford, N.H. This summer his menu included chilled Maine tomato soup served tableside with a petite lobster salad and seared scallops with baby corn, corn puree, corn bread, bacon powder and squid-ink vinaigrette.
Berndt Schmitt, former corporate executive chef for LSG Sky Chefs, where he developed menus for international airlines, has moved from Dallas to Miami Beach, Fla., where he is now executive chef of The Ritz-Carlton, South Beach.
Craig Richards, former executive chef of La Tavola Trattoria in Atlanta, was appointed executive chef of Ecco, also in Atlanta. Replacing him at La Tavola is Brent Banda, who was promoted from sous chef.
Kyle Rourke has been promoted from sous chef to executive chef of Red Star Tavern in Portland, Ore., where he has worked since 2007. Dishes at the restaurant include smoked Kobe brisket with baked corona beans, crispy onion and bourbon glaze; and Dungeness crab salad with melon, mint, scallion and cr
Maruti Lock-out Highlights India’s Labor Unease
'India's low-cost manufacturing growth story is built upon labor stability,' says analyst.
Study: Restaurant traffic declines
Restaurant traffic sputtered and dropped in the spring during the second quarter of 2011, as consumers began to feel their discretionary income squeezed, according to new research from The NPD Group.
Guest counts at restaurants decreased 0.4 percent from April to June, compared with the same period a year earlier, Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD found. Total restaurant sales increased 1.5 percent in the second quarter, due to a 1.8-percent increase in the nationwide average check offsetting traffic declines.
In the preceding three quarters, guest counts and average checks had risen, albeit weakly. Total sales increased 1.1 percent, 2 percent and 2.1 percent in the first quarter of 2011 and the fourth and third quarters of 2010, respectively.
“The consumer demand in the prior three quarters wasn’t strong enough to overcome another bump in unemployment, rising gas and commodity prices, and low consumer confidence,” said Bonnie Riggs, The NPD Group’s restaurant industry analyst. “The confidence they had in the latter part of last year and the beginning of this year was eroded by bad economic news.”
Traffic at quick-service restaurants was flat for the second quarter, NPD found. Midscale restaurants’ guest counts decreased 4 percent, while casual-dining traffic declined 2 percent. Fine dining, which experienced severe traffic declines in 2009 and the first half of 2010, saw guest counts rise in the second quarter of 2011.
NPD also tracked guest counts at on-site restaurants, which fell 2 percent in the second quarter, compared with a year earlier. While still negative, that traffic figure was a less severe decrease than what the sector typically recorded through the recession.
The market research firm forecasted that the foodservice industry will end 2011 with a 1-percent increase in traffic, compared with the previous year. If realized, that gain would put total traffic at 2009 levels, but well below peak years of 2007 and 2008.
Contact Mark Brandau at mark.brandau@penton.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @Mark_from_NRN
Q&A: Boyd Hoback, Good Times president and chief executive
The Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard chain is undergoing a refresh of its image and operations to better compete in a crowded world of “better burger” players.
The move comes after investment group Small Island Investments Ltd. acquired a majority stake of Golden, Colo.-based parent Good Times Restaurants Inc.’s outstanding shares in a deal that closed last December.
Other restaurant investments by Boston-based Small Island have included the Piccadilly Pub chain in Massachusetts, and the Elephant & Castle Group Inc., which filed for Chapter 11 reorganization in July.
For Good Times, the investment has brought working capital to re-energize the brand and allow the company to look for growth opportunities, including the possibility of investment in another concept.
Boyd Hoback, president and chief executive of the 46-unit chain, spoke with Nation’s Restaurant News about the brand’s renewed momentum.
What has Small Island brought to the brand?
We’re still a NASDAQ small-cap company, but it has brought working capital to implement a lot of the initiatives we’ve been working on over the past year. We’ve had 13 months of consecutive same-store sales increases.
Right now we’re rolling out all new menu boards and a new graphics platform. We’ve had the same package for about 10 years or so, so it’s an updating and re-energizing of the brand.
The theme is “Happiness Made to Order.” That reflects our earlier move to a made-to-order platform. We started with our fresh-cut fries last year, which are now cooked to order. We’re now testing in two units a made-to-order platform for our burgers.
Isn’t that a significant change in your operations?
Yes it is. We knew it would compromise our speed of service a bit, but consumers see it as a much better product.
Continued from page 1
And you’re using local products?
We have embarked on trying to line up more regional and local ingredients, which is part of our fresh and hand-crafted story. We have always used all-natural beef, fresh-cut tomatoes and fresh-made lemonade. This month, we announced a new product line up that includes [Denver-based] Santiago’s Authentic Green Chile. We were looking for an authentic Hatch Valley [Nevada] green chile and we felt the best one was Santiago’s.
We’re also working with a local craft brewer on a beer-battered onion ring.
Last year, we rolled out hand-spun shakes and tripled that category. Sales of our fries also increased with the made-to-order shift. And we have a quarterly “Lovers” theme for limited-time offers, like bacon lovers or onion lovers.
We’re also re-engineering our chicken category. We’re doing consumer research now. We have engaged Real Food Matters in Boulder, Colo., and they helped us to develop some new prototypes. We’re looking at an entirely new protein platform and new products.
Different from the chicken you have now?
We have a grilled chicken and crispy chicken, but they are a commoditized product. Our goal is to become not commoditized.
You recently hired a new advertising agency?
Sukle Advertising. From a marketing standpoint, we’re doing a new loyalty program. A new social-media strategy will launch, but we’re still designing that. We’re also looking at our broadcast support and increasing our radio broadcast media.
Continued from page 2
Can you describe the new look?
On the graphics side, it’s a new design that refreshes our packaging, the building exteriors and signage. That will roll out over the next year. Within the next 45 days, we’ll have the first unit re-imaged, but we’re not sure which it will be yet.
What’s the thinking in terms of growth?
We have 46 units now, mostly in Colorado. About half are franchised. We closed a couple underperforming [corporate] stores and may close maybe one more. But we’re looking to build another eight to 10 over the next two years.
But over the next nine to 12 months, we’ll finish what we’re doing with the re-imaging. Our horizon is building out Colorado, but also looking at other concept investments and strategic alternatives.
Do you mean concept investments in an existing brand or something new you’re developing?
Probably investing in existing concepts.
We had over four years of same-stores sales increases going into the recession, but we got beat up [when the economy went south] because we don’t play on the low end. So we’re coming out of that and we’re looking at other growth opportunities.
The better burger landscape has become very competitive. How are you managing that?
We’re QSR, not fast casual, but we’re definitely in the better-burger space. Denver is one of the highly penetrated better-burger markets in the country in fast casual, with Smashburger based there and Five Guys coming in, and other concepts.
We’ve found, however, that when a Smashburger opens around us, we’re impacted in short term, but business comes back, and that’s in part because we offer a drive thru, a lower price point and fast food.
We’re feeling really good about where we’re going as a brand and the overall consumer feedback on these initiatives.
Contact Lisa Jennings at lisa.jennings@penton.com.
Follow her on Twitter: @livetodineout
Fazoli’s names Al Hodges VP of operations
Fazoli’s has named longtime foodservice executive Al Hodges vice president of operations.
Hodges, who most recently served as regional vice president for Dunkin’ Brands, will oversee operations at all Fazoli’s corporate and franchised restaurants and will report to chief executive Carl Howard. Hodges replaces Dennis Benson, who left the company earlier this year.
The chain plans to open several company-owned and franchised stores this year and aims to have all corporate restaurants remodeled by the beginning of 2012.
As the brand has built momentum for its “Enhanced Service Program” — which features new d