Don't shed a tear for the original Hardees franchise

Posted Mar 12th 2007 6:05PM by Jonathan Berr
Filed under: Other Issues, Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Wendy's Intl (WEN), CKE Restaurants (CKR)

CKE Restaurants Inc. (NYSE:CKR) had little choice but to say goodbye to the original Hardee's franchise in Rocky Mount, North Carolina.

The location, which was opened in 1961, was shut more than a decade ago. Birds flew out of the interior roof when it was demolished, according to the Rocky Mount Telegram. It's going to be remade into a park. The whole area around the restaurant is part of an urban renewal project, according to Peter Varney, an assistant city manager.

"It's an area that's coming back to life," Varney told me in an interview.

There was some talk about converting the restaurant into a museum of some sort, but that never got anywhere. Interestingly, Hardee's is cutting its ties with the past less than one month after Wendy's International Inc. (NYSE:WEN) shut its original location too.

Change in this case is a good thing.

Businesses both large and small can't afford to be sentimental. Demolishing the first Hardee's franchise is both in the best interest of CKE and the city of Rocky Mount.

Tags: fast food, fast food history, fast food restaurants, FastFood, FastFoodHistory, FastFoodRestaurants, hardees, north carolina, NorthCarolina, rocky mount, RockyMount, wendys