Hardee's Moves Headquarters to St. Louis

Hardee's is working on a new recipe for success -- blending its reputation for Southern hospitality with a Midwestern headquarters. This month, Hardee's Food Systems, Inc. opens its new headquarters in the Firstar Plaza located in downtown St. Louis. The Restaurant chain originated in Rocky Mount, NC, 40 years ago this year.

"For 40 years, the heart of Hardee's beat in Rocky Mount, and its contributions to our hometown heritage will continue to be a very important part of this company," said Andy Puzder, Hardee's president and chief executive officer. Puzder also is president and chief executive officer of CKE Restaurants, Inc., Hardee's parent company. "As our company has grown with restaurants from coast to coast, we recognized that there were compelling business reasons to move our Hardee's headquarters."

"St. Louis gives us a more centralized location from which to operate restaurants in Hardee's core markets," Puzder said. "As a major metropolitan area, St. Louis makes it easier for us to find and recruit management talent and much more convenient for our employees and our franchisees to travel to and from our headquarters. We will continue to maintain a significant regional office in Rocky Mount to support our many company and Franchise restaurants throughout the southeast."

In its first year, Hardee's new headquarters will be home to approximately 75 employees, a number that includes senior management and staff members who previously worked in Hardee's regional office in St. Peter's, Mo. Departments that now operate out of St. Louis include: Operations, Marketing, Quality Assurance, Legal, franchise Operations, Finance, Human Resources, Training, and International.

The headquarters move comes at a time when the Hardee's chain is refocused on improving each guest's experience at its restaurants, and celebrating its 40th anniversary. Additionally, Hardee's is returning to its heritage of charbroiled burgers with its chainwide remodel program, begun in 1997.

Hardee's Food Systems, Inc., founded in North Carolina and now based in St. Louis, Mo., is a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc. of Anaheim, Calif. CKE Restaurants, Inc. is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange as CKR. CKE Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, franchisees and licensees, operates more than 3,700 quick-service restaurants, including 2,657 Hardee's restaurants in 32 states and 11 foreign countries; 980 Carl's Jr. restaurants located in 13 Western states and Mexico; and 125 Taco Bueno restaurants in Texas and Oklahoma.