Carl's Jr. kicked off the new year with a new twist on comfort food when it debuted its Grilled Cheese Bacon Burgers. The burgers have done so well for Carl's Jr. that sister chain Hardee's has decided to borrow the new burger.
The chains often share the same product pipeline, with Hardee's typically launching new limited-time burgers after they have done well at Carl's Jr.
Grilled Cheese Bacon Burgers feature all of the taste and comfort of grilled cheese sandwiches of our youth, but with the addition of a charbroiled burger and bacon. At Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, the Grilled Cheese Bacon Burgers feature a charbroiled 100 percent Black Angus beef patty, crispy bacon and four slices of melted American and Swiss cheeses on grilled sourdough bread. Available at Hardee's as a Little Thickburger, Original Thickburger or Six Dollar Thickburger
sizes, the sandwiches have a starting price of $2.79. Prices may vary by location.
Digital campaigns
Both chains are launching new digital campaigns aimed at their "young, hungry guy" demographic to support the product. Starting today, visitors to the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's Facebook pages can visit the new interactive application designed to provide a bit of comfort when they need it the most.
Fans can choose to comfort themselves or a friend when activating "The Comfort Place," an application which will post comforting messages to the designated Facebook wall for a 24-hour period. Comfort comes in the form of cheesy songs ("Love Sandwich"), words of wisdom and motivational pep talks ("You smell incredible right now. Just incredible."), audio sound bytes (sounds of bacon sizzling), soothing photos (frolicking kittens) and humorous videos (levitating "Burguru"). Users can also invite friends to gather at their local Carl's Jr. or Hardee's for a Comfort Session where they can take full advantage of their access to exclusive rewards and discounts on the Grilled Cheese Bacon Burgers.
Comfort sweepstakes
Additionally, Carl's Jr. and Hardee's have launched a five-week sweepstakes on each brand's respective Facebook page. Each page will give away two Comfort Packages a week, ending on March 26. The Comfort Package consists of a Happy Star branded Slanket, comfortable slippers, a universal remote, a Carl's Jr. or Hardee's gift card and a shiatsu electronic massager. Contest rules are available on the Sweepstakes tab at the brand's Facebook pages.
Brad Rosenberg, manager of digital strategy and marketing at the chains' parent company CKE Restaurants Inc., said the new campaign is just another way to extend the brands' online reach. "We don't want to just broadcast messages," he said in a news release. "We aim to interact, provide fun, sharable content, and offer our fans exclusive deals and sweepstakes that they won't find anywhere else."
Mendelsohn|Zien-created commercials supporting the Grilled Cheese Bacon Thickburger will begin airing in Hardee's markets on March 1. They can be viewed on both brands' YouTube channels. Fans can also access the chains' sometimes-cheesy status updates via Twitter.
Correction: Due to incorrect information from CKE Restaurants Inc., the starting SRP of the Grilled Cheese Bacon Thickburgers at Hardee's was originally incorrect. The current price is correct.
