News

Carl's Jr., Hardee's starts baking buns in store

November 5, 2013

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's premium burger lines will soon be served on fresh baked buns. They are currently rolling out across the country at both chains.

According to the company, the raw bun dough is given time to rise and is then baked, cooled, sliced and served in store. They are denser, a little sweeter, baked, then grilled so that each one is served hot.

Since Carl's Jr. installed ovens for the Hardee's Made from Scratch buttermilk biscuit launch in 2011, the chains are now both equipped to prep the new buns.

"For years, our goal at Carl's Jr. and Hardee's has been to make sit-down restaurant-quality food available to fast food consumers, but I think we've even gone a step beyond that this time," said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's. "We're now not only the only major fast food chains to offer 100-percent Black Angus beef burgers, but we're also the only ones to bake premium-quality buns for those burgers fresh in our restaurants, every day. Not many fine-dining restaurants even do that anymore."

Haley added that the test went well and customers began asking if they could bring a bag of the buns home.

"These aren't just basic hamburger buns that we've chosen to bake ourselves rather than have a commercial bakery make for us. They really are as good as or better than you could bake at home," he said.

The fresh baked buns launch will be supported by advertising created by Los Angeles- and Amsterdam-based creative agency 72andSunny. The commercials will begin airing across the country beginning Nov. 25 and also will be posted on the Carl's Jr. and Hardee's YouTube channels.

The new buns are standard on any Six Dollar Thickburger at Carl's Jr. and one-third-pound Thickburgers at Hardee's. They also are available for substitution on any other burger or sandwich offering for an additional charge.

Beginning mid-October, the first wave of restaurants began offering the new buns as a regular menu item. All participating Carl's Jr. and Hardee's restaurants will be serving them by Nov. 14.

Read more about food and beverage introductions.