Hardee's French Dip and French Maids Tour

Hardee's is promoting their French Dip Thickburger with a national tour of French Maids that will cruise around local events on Segways. If you show up and have your photo taken with the hot, busty French Maids you can pull up the photo on their French Me website to show it to your wife and/or GF.

The French Dip Thinkburger (introduced today at participating Hardee's) features thinly sliced roast beef and melted Swiss cheese and is served with a cup 'au jus' for dipping.

"What do maids, toast, kisses and burgers all have in common? They're all better when they're French," said Brad Haley, Hardee's Executive Vice President of Marketing. "Our loyal fans not only love Hardee's food, they enjoy the beautiful women who have starred in our commercials over the years. So, we decided to take it one step farther and send some French Maids across the country to help celebrate summer and the delicious French Dip Thickburger."

Here's the city schedule for the French Maids, you can follow (stalk) them more closely on twitter:

• July 13-14 - St Louis, Mo.
• July 17-19 - Greenville, S.C.
• July 21-22 - Knoxville, Tenn.
• July 24-26 - Indianapolis, Ind.
• July 30 - August 1 - Charlotte, N.C.
• August 3-6 - Myrtle Beach, S.C.
• August 7-10 - Jacksonville, Fla.
• August 13-16 - Nashville, Tenn.
• August 18-19 - Columbus, Ga.
• August 21-24 - Atlanta, Ga.
• August 26-27 - Birmingham, Ala.
• August 29 - St Louis, Mo.

And here's a little video peek at the French Dip Maids:

The French Dip Thickburger is $3.99 by itself or $5.99 in a small combo, but here's a coupon for $1 off the French Dip Thickburger combo.

Feeling a little short on salt today, the French Dip Thickburger is the sandwich for you, with 2280 mg of sodium, it has 95% of your daily suggested intake of sodium. And 650 calories, 300 of which are from fat. Here's the complete nutritional info:

Carl's/Hardee's Giving Away Six 2010 Camaro's

Starting today (6/24/09) you can enter to win one of six 2010 Chevy Camaro's from Carl's, Hardee's, and Dr. Pepper.

I don't know why I'm spreading the word. I'd kinda like to win one myself. Heck, they sent me a pineapple, how much more is it to ask them to send me a Camaro?

Anyway, you can enter at www.DrPepperCamaro.com and when you do you'll get a link to a coupon that will upgrade your Medium Combo Meal at Carl's/Hardee's to a Large Combo Meal for free.

Audrina Partridge in Carl's Bikini Ad

It has been a few years since Carl's Jr. heated up TV screens with their ad featuring Paris Hilton in a swimsuit washing a Bentley.

Now it is Audrina Partridge's turn. Partridge's "top-rated bikini body" is featured in a new ad for Carl's Teriyaki Burger. Sex sells fast food, too, apparently:

“During the summer, as my fans know, I’m always on the beach in my bikini,” said Patridge. “But, my one indulgence is the Carl’s Jr. Teriyaki Burger. I love the charbroiled pineapple and the Teriyaki glaze – I seriously crave it.”

The Teriyaki Burger has a charbroiled beef patty, teriyaki glaze, a charbroiled pineapple slice, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomato, red onion and mayonnaise, on a seeded bun. They are available in a single, double or Six Dollar™ version, and sell for $2.89, $3.89 and $4.69 respectively.

As part of this bikini theme and to further promote the Teriyaki burger, Carl's and Hardee's have partnered with Break Media for a "Hot Chicks Eating Burgers" video contest. 'Hot chicks' are supposed to submit videos of themselves eating burgers at www.HotChicksEatingBurgers.com.

Just a coincidence...
Less than an hour after I wrote the above, FedEx showed up at my door with this pineapple for me from Carl's:

The postcard 'from' Audrina reads: "Having a delicious summer with the Carl's Jr. Teriyaki Burger. Wish you were here... XO, Audrina."

So, since I plan on eating some of this pineapple, that should serve as full disclosure... although I really don't need to do that since I already wrote about it. Hmmmm.

I also wanted to mention that you can find a $1 off coupon for the Teriyaki Burger here.

Padma Lakshmi Loves Carl's Western Bacon

Supermodel and no-nonsense host of Bravo's "Top Chef," Padma Lakshmi shows her love for Carl's Jr.'s Western Bacon Cheeseburgers in new TV ads. The burger is a special love from her youth that helped her transition from vegetarian to carnivore.

"I...started wolfing down bacon Western cheeseburgers [sic] after school at Carl's Jr. The sublimely pleasurable taste of bacon...was further enhanced by its mingling with the barbecue sauce, greedily licked off as it dripped down my teenage fingers," wrote Padma in her latest cookbook, 'Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet,' published in 2007.

That revelation drew the attention of Carl's Jr. and Hardee's advertising agency, Mendelsohn|Zien, which had been tasked with creating a new television campaign for Hardee's introduction of its very own Western Bacon Thickburger. The resulting ads will begin running on March 30th in markets throughout the Midwest and Southeast and will also be shown in limited Carl's Jr. markets on the West Coast beginning March 31st.

You can watch it below, right now:

Hardee's New Breakfast Items

Hardee's is trying to give America's traditional breakfast diners a run for their money with 2 new breakfast items: The Ham & Three Cheese Breakfast Burrito and Country Potatoes side item.

“Hardee’s has had a great deal of success in the past by bringing sit-down restaurant-quality food to fast-food consumers, most notably with our award-winning line of 100% Black Angus beef Thickburgers,” says Brad Haley, EVP of Marketing for Hardee’s. “Our famous Made from Scratch, buttermilk biscuits have always been very popular as well but we still had a few opportunities to further narrow the gap with sit-down restaurants on our breakfast menu. So, we have taken a very popular breakfast omelet and made it easy to eat on-the-go with our new Ham & Three Cheese Breakfast Burrito. And, what better complement to a great diner-style breakfast entrée than our new Country Potatoes, which were created to match the kind of potatoes served at most sit-down restaurants.”

The Ham & 3 Cheese Breakfast Burrito is 2 folded eggs with diced ham and melted cheddar, American and Swiss cheeses wrapped in a flour tortilla. It has 590 calories and 39 grams of fat. (Full nutritional info is below.) It is priced at $2.69 or as part of a small combo for $4.29.

The new Country Potatoes are "are cubed chunks of whole potatoes, with the skin left on, that are lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, like those served in most sit-down diner restaurants." A small order of the Country Potatoes will run you $1.09. The small order has 200 calories, the medium has 290, and the large has 480. Complete nutritional info for the medium is below.

Here's Hardee's new TV ad for the Burrito:

Since I mentioned Chick-fil-a in my post about helping out kids this season, I wanted to let you know that Hardee's does their part during the holidays, too. Jenna at Hardee's corporate office in St. Louis let me know that their office usually adopts a needy family in the St. Louis area via the Saint Louis Crisis Nursery and that this year she was able to solicit multiple departments and districts at Hardee's and help almost 20 families. Jenna is looking forward to dropping off all the goodies tomorrow!

Little Thickburger Ads From Hardee's

Hardee's has an answer for that eternal question: "What would happen to a Thickburger if you threw it in a cold swimming pool?" (see the first video below)

Hardee's is promoting their Little Thickburgers. So five years after Hardee's introduced their 1/3 and 2/3 pound Thickburgers, they're introducing a 1/4 pound size for smaller appetites: the "Little Thickburger."

“Ever since we first introduced our signature line of Thickburgers in 2003, our research has consistently shown that people recognize and appreciate their superior taste and quality,” said Brad Haley, Hardee’s EVP of Marketing for Hardee’s restaurants. “The only complaint some people have ever had about our Thickburgers is that they were either too big or too expensive to order as much as they would like, particularly in this challenging economic environment. So, we created Little Thickburgers specifically for those people. Starting at just $1.99 and made with quarter pound, charbroiled, 100% Black Angus beef patties, Little Thickburgers may be smaller than the original Thickburgers, but they are definitely not small on taste.”

The Little Thickburgers start at $1.99.

The Little Thick Cheeseburger is 1/4 pound charbroiled Angus beef, American Cheese, tomato, lettuce, red onion, mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and dill pickles on a sesame seed bun. It has 470 calories and 24 grams of fat, compared to the Original 1/3 pound Thickburger with cheese with 680 calories and 39 grams of fat, or the 2/3 pound Monster Thickburger with 1420 calories and 108 grams of fat. Complete nurtritional information for the new Little Thickburger with cheese:

Two of the ads for the new Little Thickburger campaign are below. They were created by Mendelsohn|Zien. They also brought you the (in)famous Paris Hilton Hardee's ad and the Fake Restaurant ads from earlier this year.

The 'Shrinkage' ad for the Little Thickburger:

The Badonkadonk / Badinkadink Little Thickburger version:

Hardee's Pork Chop 'N' Gravy Breakfast Biscuit

Hardee's has announced the return of their Pork Chop 'N' Gravy Biscuit. And now they've added gravy.

It follows the Southern cuisine popularity Hardee's found with the success of their Chicken Fillet Biscuit.

"We first introduced a pork chop biscuit a few years ago and, even though we stopped selling it last year, we still get many requests from people asking us to bring it back," said Brad Haley, Hardee's Executive Vice President of Marketing. "And, since we had many reports from our restaurants that people were ordering a side of our famous sausage gravy to dip the biscuit in, we decided to re-test it with sausage gravy already on it and it was more popular than ever. So, I guess the old saying among our test kitchen people is true: 'The only way to make it better is to add gravy to it!'."

The Pork Chop 'N' Gravy Biscuit features a breaded, boneless pork chop and sausage gravy on a 'made from scratch' biscuit. It is priced at $2.99, or in a small combo for $4.59 (with hash rounds and a drink).

It has 680 calories (370 from fat) and 42 grams of fat. Complete nutritional information:

Fast Food Burger Reviews from 1978

Thanks to a new Newspaper archive at Google News, we can go back in time 30 years to read what one food critic in Pittsburgh had to say about the fast food burgers available then.

The article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Dining Out section by Mike Kalina was called "Wendy's Grinds Out Foes in Burger Taste Test."

Here's the burgers reviewed:
Wendy's "Wendy's Single" - price: 85¢ - Rating: A
Burger Chef's "Super Shef" - price: $1.09 - Rating: B
Burger King's "Whopper" - price: $1.09 - Rating: C-
Hardee's "Deluxe Huskee" - price $1.10 - Rating: C-
Winky's "The Great One" - price $1.09 - Rating C-
McDonald's "Quarter-pounder" - price: 95¢ - Rating: D

Today, 30 years later, a Whopper costs $2.59. That's up 238% in 30 years.

Other things were different then, too. McDonald's was the old stand-by, all the other chains were "feisty newcomers:"

"For years, McDonald's hamburgers dominated the fast-food scene, but in recent years the firm's success has been challenged by feisty newcomers."

The Post-Gazette's taste test "revealed unequivocally that Wendy's puts out the best hamburgers."

Also noted, as Wendy's has been promoting heavily of late, Wendy's hamburger meat is "ground fresh daily, which greatly enhances its taste (most chains use frozen patties)."

About McDonald's, Kalina wrote:  "The burgers...contained fewer garnishes than any others we sampled and were the poorest-tasting.  The sesame-seed rolls, however, were very good...The patties...had the texture and look of shoe leather."

And about Burger King:  "The thin, charcoal-broiled pattie was a bit dry and encumbered by too large a roll (about five inches across).  There seemed to be too much bread and not enough burger."<

30 years later and 4 of the restaurants Mr. Kalina reviewed are even bigger national chains.

Wendy's still doesn't freeze their meat, BK still flame-broils theirs, and some would still agree that a McDonald's hamburger patty has the look and taste of shoe leather!

---

A side note... I thought I'd see if Mr. Kalin might still be doing restaurant reviews in Pittsburgh and discovered that despite a successful career with columns and TV shows about food and travel and a popular cookbook, he committed suicide in 1992.

Hardee's/Carl's Reality TV Ad Campaign

Hardee's and Carl's Jr. has a new ad campaign that's more creative (but less hot) than watching Paris Hilton wash a Bentley.

They set up a fake restaurant called "Grade A Restaurant." The 'bistro burger' restaurant, complete with hidden cameras, had staff and customers that were all actors. The "target" was brought to the restaurant by an "accomplice." The "target" was told about the high-quality bistro burgers on the menu ranging in price from $14 to $20. After enjoying their burger it was revealed to them that they had just eaten a burger from Hardee's.

In the video below, the "target" even says how much she hates Hardee's commercials!

More videos can be found at www.fakerestaurant.com or on their YouTube channel.

Hardee's Country Breakfast Buritto

We were 'impressed' by the calories in Hardee's Steak 'N' Egg Burrito (560 calories) and Loaded Breakfast Burrito (780 calories)... now we're just overwhelmed!

Hardee's new Country Breakfast Burrito has a heart-stopping 902 calories and 60 grams of fat!

Hardee's is proud of this gut-busting breakfast and doesn't make any excuses for it's colossal calorie count. CNN quotes Hardee's marketing chief Brad Haley, ""We don't try to hide what these are," he said. "When consumers go to other fast-food places they feel like they've got to buy two of their breakfast sandwiches or burritos to fill up. This is really designed to fill you up."

Hardee's Country Breakfast Burrito has 902 calories, 60 grams of fat, 540 calories from fat, 23 grams saturated fat, 51 grams carbs, 500 mg cholesterol, 1970 mg sodium, 42 grams protein and is priced at $2.69.

from Epicurious: "That's more than half the daily recommended caloric intake for many Americans, and more fat than most of us need to eat every three days."

Hat tips: Slashfood, Epicurious, & CNN

Hardee's Hawaiian Chicken sandwich

Hardee's introduced a new Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich this week. It consists of a charbroiled chicken breast with a teriyaki sauce and a slice of grilled pineapple, swiss cheese, red onion, tomato, lettuce and mayonnaise.

There is currently a coupon on Hardee's website good for $1 off the Hawaiian Chicken Sandwich through November 11, 2007.

The sandwich has 460 calories, 16 grams fat, 3 grams saturated fat, 75 mg cholesterol, 46 grams carbohydrates, 1130 mg sodium, 33 grams protein.

Hardee's offers wine suggestions

Hardee's recent TV ad features the billionaire Maloof brothers downing their $6,000 meal: a Hardee's Six Dollar Burger and a 24-year-old bottle of expensive French wine. (The $6,000 meal is only available at the Palms in Las Vegas, by the way.)

In aid of this new wine theme, Hardee's asked a wine merchant near their St. Louis headquarters to produce a wine list for some of their signature sanwiches. Here's a couple of the suggestions by Paul Hayden of The Wine and Cheese Place in Clayton, Missouri:

1/3-lb. Original Thickburger -- "One of my favorite matches for a burger like this is an Australian Shiraz or a California Syrah," Hayden says. "The big fruit of these wines matches well with the variety of flavors on the Original Thickburger." Recommendations: Step Road Shiraz ($15); Qupe Syrah ($17).

1/3-lb. Mushroom 'N' Swiss Thickburger -- "The earthiness of the mushrooms will pair with a good Italian wine like a Chianti or Barbera. The high acidity of these wines will match well with the mushrooms."Recommendations: Gabbiano ($13); Gagliardo Barbers ($17).

1/3-lb. Jalapeno Thickburger -- "The classic Zinfandel will match well with the spiciness of this burger. The full fruit and full body of the Zinfandel will hold its own against the jalapenos." Recommendations: Four Vines Old Vine Zinfandel ($11); Peachy Canyon Incredible Red ($10).

Charbroiled Chicken Club Sandwich -- "With the bacon, this calls for a red wine, but you can go on the lighter side. The flavors of a good Pinot Noir will match nicely with the chicken." Recommendations: Mark West Pinot Noir ($10); Carneros Creek Pinot Noir ($17).


Mr. Hayden isn't the first sommelier to attempt to pair wines with fast food. In August of last year I wrote about an article in the NC Times suggesting wines like Falkner Winery's 2003 Luscious Lips for Wendy's hamburgers and Arby's roast beef sandwiches or a 2003 Maurice Car'rie sauvignon blanc to go with a Subway Turkey and all the trimmings.

Hardee's new, huge breakfast buritto

Hardee's has re-introduced their 780 calorie Loaded Breakfast Burrito. It has 51 grams of fat. If that doesn't fill you up until lunch, nothing will!

And for Hardee's size is all that matters!

Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee’s, says the burrito's popularity "stems from its sheer size, since most fast-food breakfast burritos are small, skinny things that don’t represent much of a meal. The Loaded Breakfast Burrito is a delicious, satisfyingly big burrito that truly is ‘loaded’ with eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, cheese, has rounds and salsa.”

The Loaded Breakfast Burrito sells for $2.49.

This new burrito is different from Hardee's 550 calorie Steak 'N' Egg Burrito that was introduced earlier this year.

The Loaded Breakfast Burrito is loaded with 780 calories, 459 calories from fat, 51 g fat, 20 g saturated fat, 38g carbohydrates, 40 g protein, 495 mg cholesterol, and 1620 mg sodium.

Hardee's makes Jalapeno Thickburger

Hardee's has introduced a Jalapeno Thickburger.

"Just a few years ago, no one would have dared to introduce a fast-food menu item with this much heat, but as America has become more diversified, so have American's palettes," said Brad Haley, Hardee's executive vice president of marketing.

The Jalapeno Thickburger is 1/3-pound beef patty topped with jalapeno slices, peppers, pepperjack cheese and a Santa Fe sauce. It is priced at $3.49 by itself, or $5.78 for a medium combo meal.

The Jalapeno Thickburger has 840 calories, 522 calories from fat, 58 grams of fat, 19 grams of saturated fat, 52 grams of carbs, 110 mg of cholesterol, 1690 mg of sodium and 30 grams of protein. Add an order of medium fries and you're up to 1360 calories and 82 grams of fat. I'll just stop there and not add a high fructose corn syrup laden cup of Coca-Cola!

If you're going to try one, save a $1 and use this coupon (good thru October 2006).

Fast food games on the web

I decided this would be a good post for the weekend considering it has the potential to waste hours of your time. As I've found on-line games related to fast food I've been making a list and today I'm posting them all for your weekend time-wasting pleasure:

The Fast Food Logo Game presents you with 26 partial fast food logos and challenges you to guess which restaurant they represent.

Burger Time is a Donkey Kong variant in which you direct a little chef up ladders, across beams, and over burger components to construct complete burgers before being tackled by errant hot dogs. [via A Hamburger Today]

McVideogame.com is both a game and a disturbing look at McDonald's that I wrote about in March. It is is a satirical, 'anti-advergame' that highlights the dark-side of running a McDonald's-like fast food restaurant. The player discovers that to make money running the company you must exploit underdeveloped countries and low-wage workers and feed unhealthy growth hormones to cattle.

Fast Food Fiasco can be almost as addictive as fast food itself, without the additives! It's a traditional matching game like Bejeweled in which you have to arrange 3 identical fast food items in a row or column to score points.

Guess the Calories is exactly what it sounds like: the game presents you with a popular fast food item and you have to move the slider on the calorie scale to indicate how many calories you think it has. Hint: use Fast Food Facts or the Fast Food Facts book to cheat!

Busy Burger is an infuriating (read challenging) little animated game that requires you to prepare and bag exactly what the customer has ordered. There are only three items for customers to choose from; burgers, fries, chicken, and a drink, but fulfilling an order requires planning and coordination.

Burger Invasion is a Galaga, shoot the space ships, type game except that the space ships are burgers and what looks like croissants. It just barely qualifies as a fast food game; primarily because of its name.

Bueno Rufus features Bueno the Beaver (!) who has been hired by a Mexican fast food joint to process orders. He has to top each dish with the correct topping before they quickly zap by. You help Bueno make the right choice of toppings in the nick of time because this is fast food and Bueno needs to be on his toes!

Fast Food Follies is really a horrible game both in premise and play. I don't even know why I'm listing it except for its absurdity. It is a shoot 'em up game that takes place in a Canadian Dairy Queen. The DQ employees you're shooting at are always in the same place and the premise, that DQ is getting meat anywhere it can, is just plain weird.

Of course the big boys have created some of their own games at their respective web sites:

Taco Bell has a memory game and you can dress up their sauce packets.

There's a couple games, including Burger Invaders, at Hardee's and Carl's Jr.; just click on the video game controller on their homepages.

McDonald's has gotten in the game, too, with Shark Bait. Shark bait is a promotion game for their Filet-O-Fish sandwich that I've written about before.

If you'd prefer to go with the full PC game experience you could purchase either Fast Food Tycoon 2 or the more advanced Restaurant Empire at Amazon.

And finally, if you need a fast food game fix on your mobile phone there's Fast Food Mayhem.

Red Burrito menu coming to Hardee's

Following CKE's success with the Green Burrito brand in Carl's Jr. restaurants, Hardee's will now begin a Red Burrito co-brand.

The Green Burrito logo and menu items are offered in 263 Carl's Jr. locations. Green Burrito offers "big, fresh burritos, authentic and California-style tacos...and other Mexican-style favorites."

CKE, parent company of both Carl's and Hardee's, hopes is to expand both brands' appeal to Mexican food fans as well as Monster Thickburger lovers with the Red and Green Burrito brands.

Hardee's, Carl's 'Burger Slayer' promotion

Hardee's and Carl's Jr. have initiated a new customer participation promotion called Burger Slayer.

The object of the 'game' is for customers to snap a photo of themselves devouring -- or "slaying" -- their favorite Carl's Jr. or Hardee's menu offering and then submit it for posting online.

Photos can be submitted via the Carl's or Hardee's websites or by e-mailing them to either carlsjr@burgerslayer.com or hardees@burgerslayer.com.

Photos are voted on by site visitors and the winner is crowned "Burger Slayer of the Month." The winner's photo and bio (if desired) are posted on the sites and they receive free burgers for a month. The competition will renew monthly.

The sites will be marketed in the restaurants and word of the offer will be circulated via social networking sites such as MySpace.com, photo sharing networks such as Flickr, and banner ads on Yahoo!

New 'Cow Shake' at Hardee's

Hardee's is introducing a new "Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake made with M&M's Milk Chocolate Candies" The new shake features vanilla ice cream and milk, blended to order with M&M's milk chocolate candies pieces and topped with whipped cream. A scoop of malt powder can be added. The price is $2.99.

To launch the new shake Hardee's has a new TV spot, titled 'Cow Shake Off,' features dueling guys, cows, and the single 'Milkshake' by Kelis. This is a follow-up to last year's successful "Cow Shake" ad.

"Last year when we introduced our Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shakes and Malts with the original 'Cow Shake' ad, it was so popular and drew such an overwhelming response from consumers that we knew we had to create a sequel," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee's.

Hardee's CEO ignores 'health craze'

Andrew Puzder, President and CEO of CKE (parent of Hardee's and Carl's Jr.), isn't being swayed by any health craze or obesity lawsuit. At CKE's investor meeting this week Puzder said, "The way people like to think they eat, and the way they actually eat, is usually very different."

I couldn't agree more. And I've said this before, too: the fast food industry is being divided into two camps, those who are trying to make a show of offering healthy food options and promoting fitness and those that are just giving people what they want: high-calorie, high-fat fast food. It comes down to a personal decision... what do YOU want to put in YOUR mouth. Nobody is forcing you to eat Hardee's Monster Thickburger.

CKE, like Wendy's, has found that the healthy options just aren't selling. Concerning the salads and low-carb burgers offered by Carl's Jr., Pudzer said, "we sell very few of them."

Now when it comes to marketing to kids it gets more complicated. McDonald's has marketed to young children for years and they might have a reason to be afraid of obesity lawsuits. So there heath and fitness promotions might make some sense in fending off the lawyers. But Pudzer responded to a question about his concerns about obesity lawsuits this way: "As a former trial attorney myself--no, I'm not worried."

Pudzer also opined, "I think the health craze is happening mostly among journalists."

As a perfect example of CKE's disdain for the 'health craze,' Hardee's last week unveiled their "meat as a condiment" burger, the Philly Cheesesteak Monster Thickburger.

Hardee's using meat as a condiment

"Meat as a condiment," that's how Hardee's PR team is promoting their new Philly Cheesesteak Monster Thickburger: "Using meat, such as bacon, as a burger topping is not a new idea, but Hardee’s has taken the concept to its extreme [with the] Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger."

This meat-on-meat creation consists of 1/3-lb. beef patty piled high with thinly sliced steak, two kinds of cheese, green peppers and onions.

Amazing! Just look at all that meat. Putting bacon on a burger doesn't seem as unnatural or overwhelming, for some reason, as stacking slices of greasy meat on top of a mound of ground beef. But that's just me.

The Philly Cheesesteak Thickburger has 930 calories (570 from fat), 63 grams of fat, 24 grams of saturated fat, 135 mg of cholesterol, 1750 mg of sodium, 52 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 10 grams of sugars, and 41 grams of protein.

It sells for $3.99 by itself, or $5.79 for a small combo meal.

New logos for Carl's and Hardee's

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's unveiled their new logos this week. The new logos "feature a script type designed to give the brand names more of a personal feel, like a signature."

In a statement, Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carl's Jr. and Hardee's said: "Consumer research confirmed that the new logos were very well received among our base of young, hungry guys. We found that fast-food customers, as well as our brand loyalists, not only really liked the new look, but they also thought it better represented the quality of our menu offerings and that it gave the impression that the overall dining experience would be better."

Maybe it's just me, but don't they kinda look like the sewn on name patches you see on mechanics' shirts?

New Steak 'N' Egg burrito at Hardee's

Hardee's introduced a new item to their breakfast menu yesterday, the Steak 'N' Egg Burrito. They describe it as including "strips of real grilled steak, plus a blend of Swiss and cheddar cheeses, with two eggs, all wrapped in a large, warm flour tortilla." It comes with salsa.

My question, regarding their description, is about "real grilled steak." What other kind of "grilled steak" is there? Wait, stop, don't answer that, I don't want to know.

Hardee's says this burrito represents their "continuing emphasis on food quality, by featuring steak as an ingredient." Want quality? Put some "real grilled steak" in your food!

The Steak 'N' Egg Burrito has 550 calories, 28 grams of fat, 10 grams of saturated fat, 38 grams of carbohydrates, 32 grams of protein, 455 mg of cholesterol and 1330 mg of sodium.

Fast food's 'holiday' references

The controversy over "Happy Holidays" vs. "Merry Christmas" seems to have really heated up this year. I actually got invited to a "I'll call it a Christmas Party if I Want To" party! thrown by someone who said they're sick of all the "religious correctness." Many people are being careful not to offend; many of the 'Christmas' cards I got this year did not mention Christmas at all. And of course there's been boycotts against many retailers who've been accused by Christian groups of not including specific Christmas references in their stores, websites, and holiday marketing.

With this in mind, I decided to take a look at some fast food restaurants' web sites today, with Christmas only a day and a half away, and see what sort of 'holiday' references I might find.

The following sites had no mention of the holiday season whatsoever: Burger King, Carls Jr., Chick-fil-a, Church's Chicken, Del Taco, In-N-Out, KFC, Long John Silver's, McDonald's, Panera, and Taco Bell.

One thing about that list really surprised me. I was surprised that Chick-fil-a didn't have a "Merry Christmas" on their site, since they promote themselves as a Christian company every week by keeping their restaurants closed on Sunday.

I didn't see Christmas, Hanukkah, or Kwanza mentioned specifically anywhere, but here are some holiday references I did find:

• Dairy Queen is promoting a "Merry Mint Chip Blizzard" on their site, but doesn't mention Christmas or the holiday season specifically.
• Hardee's had a "Big Holiday Rockin' Good Promo" (an LCD TV giveaway) on their site two days ago, but interestingly, today (12/23), it is just called the "Rockin' Good Promo." Hmm.
• Jack in the Box has special Holiday Antenna Balls.
• Sonic Drive-Ins has a Holiday Scratch & Win Game and a Gingerbread Blast (aka a gingerbread shake).
• Subway has a special section on "Surviving the Holiday Hunger" written by their staff dietician.
• Wendy's homepage promotes and links to some holiday related topics at the Dave Thomas Foundation including a Hallmark Adoption Ornament and a television special that aired Wednesday (12/21) on CBS.

Hardee's introduces taco salad

In contrast to other restaurants who appear to be abandoning healthier fare (because no one is ordering it), Hardee's has introduced their first salad, the Red Burrito Taco Salad.

Whether this salad qualifies as 'healthy' is up to you: 860 calories, 55 grams of fat, 60 grams carbs, 90 mg cholesterol, 1720 mg sodium, 38 grams protein. That's more calories and fat than two (2) of Hardee's Cheeseburgers.

In keeping with the marketing for their giant Thickburgers, Hardee's is calling it a "hearty entrée salad."

Selling for $3.99, the Red Burrito Taco Salad is a bowl-shaped tortilla shell filled with seasoned ground beef, Monterey Jack and cheddar cheeses, shredded lettuce, refried beans, sour cream, hot sauce and spicy pico de gallo salsa.

Pork chops, yogurt and combos

No, not pork chops and yogurt together. Just some new menu items from Wendy's, Hardee's and Krystal:

• Wendy's has added a low-fat, strawberry-flavored yogurt cup with granola to its menu; the 6.85-ounce yogurt with granola is $1.29.
• Hardee's has announced a new addition to line of Biscuit sandwiches, the Grilled Pork Chop Biscuit which features a grilled, basted pork chop on a Hardee's "Made From Scratch Biscuit", and is available for a limited time at participating Hardee's restaurants for $2.69.
• And Krystal has introduced a combo sampler for those who might have trouble making a decision. The new Krystal Sampler Combo features the Krystal Hamburger, the Krystal Chik and the Chili Cheese Pup.

Fast food & viral marketing

Fast food outlets are increasingly turning to 'viral marketing' to promote their brand. Recently Long John Silver's unveiled shrimpbuddy.com, a website featuring a film about a guy with a best friend who is a 6 foot tall shrimp. Hardee's has spicyparis.com with extended videos of their infamous Paris Hilton burger ad. We wrote about Wendy's viral 'squares' last week. And the viral site that started it all (at least for fast food) was Burger King's Subservient Chicken.

Too much Paris?

While some groups are calling the Carl's Jr. ad featuring Paris Hilton "soft-core porn," consumers are swamping the ads special website, spicyparis.com. The websites of Carl's Jr./Hardees were overloaded and crashed by all the traffic.

Fast food's 'bigger is better' trend

USA Today has extensive coverage of the recent fast food trend towards larger, less healthy food offerings and why they're so popular, with examples from several restaurants. The article includes a top 10 list of the most popular restaurant foods for both men and women. There is also an interactive graphic of Hardee's Monster Thickburger describing the elements that fast food restaurants include in food item development to make us crave their food.

CKE Restaurants Beefs Up Sales

The company, which runs burger chains such as Carl's Jr. and Hardee's, said it earned $7.1 million, or 12 cents a share, for the quarter. That marks a reversal from last year's loss in the same quarter, totaling $51.7 million, and it exceeded Wall Street's expectations.