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Talking Turkey: Carl’s Jr., Hardee’s launch turkey burger

March 21, 2011

Carl’s Jr. came under fire from health fanatics when it began testing its 1,400 calorie-bombardment footlong cheeseburger.

The chain, along with its sister chain Hardee’s, has since made a full 180-degree turn. The brands, owned by CKE Restaurants, rolled out a new line of charbroiled turkey burgers this week, making them the first major quick-service chains to do so on a national basis. Other, smaller QSRs, including EVOS and Burgerville, have included turkey burgers on their menus for several years.

The mass turkey burger option is already available at Hardee’s and will be sold at Carl’s Jr. units beginning March 23.

Carl’s and Hardee’s new burgers were created in collaboration with the editors of Men’s Health and Matt Goulding co-author of the "Eat This, Not That!" book series.

The premise of "Eat This, Not That!" is to offer better-for-you food swaps for some of the restaurants’ higher-calorie beef burger options. Each of the new turkey burgers includes less than 500 calories. The lineup includes:

• Turkey Burger (available at Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s): A charbroiled turkey patty, ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, red onion, tomato and dill pickle chips;
• Teriyaki Turkey Burger (available at Carl’s Jr.): A charbroiled turkey patty, teriyaki sauce, grilled pineapple, Swiss cheese, red onion, tomato and lettuce;
• Guacamole Turkey Burger (available at Carl’s Jr.): A charbroiled turkey patty, freshly-prepared guacamole, pepper-Jack cheese, tomato and lettuce;
• Mushroom Swiss Turkey Burger (available at Hardee’s): A charbroiled turkey patty, sautéed mushrooms and two slices of Swiss cheese;
• BBQ Ranch Turkey Burger (available at Hardee’s): A charbroiled turkey patty, BBQ sauce, red onion, tomato, lettuce and buttermilk ranch sauce.

All Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Turkey Burgers are served on a toasted wheat bun.

“More and more customers today are looking for great-tasting burgers that are better for them and/or are available with a beef alternative,” said Brad Haley, EVP of marketing for CKE Restaurants Inc. “Ironically, several of our burgers made the ‘Not That!’ list in the past, so we’re happy to now feature some products worthy of the ‘Eat This!’ side. We could have opted to promote carrot sticks and apple slices like some of our competitors but people just don’t buy them. When they want a burger, they want a burger, and now they can get great ones that just happen to be better for them, too.”

The launch of the new Charbroiled Turkey Burgers will be supported with TV, radio and print ads developed by CKE’s new advertising agency of record, Los Angeles-based David & Goliath. 

David & Goliath’s ads for the brand will feature Gizem Memic, the reigning Miss Turkey from the Miss Universe pageant and also will debut the brand’s new campaign tagline: “Just the way it is.” The ads will begin airing nationally this week.

“Our goal was to simply leverage their truth and tell it in a more contemporary and conversational way. The tagline ‘Just the way it is’ does just that. It embraces the voice in all of us that's unafraid to be who we are and own it. And that's just the way it is,” said David Angelo, chairman and chief creative officer of David & Goliath.

The Turkey Burger launch also will be supported through digital efforts on the Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s Facebook pages.

Check out the new “Miss Turkey” ad. What do you think?