What the Church Can Learn from Hardees

Photo by amirali mirhashemian on Unsplash

The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them. -Proverbs 11:3

I ate at Hardees today.[1] It was during the noon hour, when people like me are getting a quick bite to eat. But it felt like going into a ghost town. I was the only customer. The parking lot was empty, and the guy on the headset seemed genuinely shocked to have human contact. The surrounding restaurants—McDonald’s, Arby’s, Wendy’s, Sonic, and Braum’s each had a longer line. But not Hardees.

Growing up, I thought Hardees was the bomb. I remember getting their cinnamon and raisin biscuits for breakfast. I also loved their Big Deluxe burger. But more than anything I liked getting a California Raisins toy. In our small town we didn’t have many options, there was no fast food in my hometown—but a quick little jaunt over to Monroe City, MO meant we could eat at Hardees. And I loved it.

In the late 80’s and early 90’s Hardees was one of the top burger franchises in the US. It competed with McDonald’s and Burger King for fast food dominance. But today…today, it was a ghost town. And it’s that way almost every time I drive by there. I wonder how its even staying in business. Many haven’t. In 2023 and 2024 several locations closed down.

What happened?

The brand was beginning to fade in the late 90’s due to slower service, a tired menu, and quality control. In July 1997, it was bought out by Carl Jr.’s. They kept the name Hardees but began rebranding.

What Hardees lacked in this era was something unique. McDonald’s was super-sizing and offering value menus. Burger King was letting customers have it their way, and positioned itself as the cooler McDonald’s. They had the creepy king as their mascot and had partnered with Pokémon. Hardees had nothing.

They moved away from a focus on their breakfast menu and an appeal to families, instead they came up with a novel idea—a $6 burger. That would be like a $10.50 burger today. They were trying to position themselves as a fast-casual dining experience. They wanted to give people a restaurant quality burger without the wait or cost of a sit-down meal. Their new Thickburger would be their “thing”.

It worked for a season. The novelty gave them an identity. By 2010 it looked like the company had successfully turned the corner. Their new identity proved to be their undoing. The problem was that a fast-food place that charged sit-down restaurant prices wasn’t a great long-term plan. When upstart chains like Five Guys and Shake Shack started giving people an actual premium burger experience, Hardees was toast.

Hardees got caught in no man’s land—too expensive for fast food, not good enough for fast casual. When the Thickburger buzz wore off, they tried something else to stay relevant—sex. Instead of returning to what had made them successful in the first place—good food, family-friends, and affordable—they went the other way. They continued to target young men as their hopeful customer.

They put out a series of racy ads. This was what they became known for now. Maybe boobs could sell their burgers. Once again, it worked for a moment. It gave them the attention they sought. But shock value will only last so long. People were talking about Hardees again, but they weren’t lining up for the food. And these ads only further frustrated and alienated their long-time customers.

They kept raising their prices but not improving quality. And that leads us to today and why I was the only schmuck who dropped $12 on a Hot Ham and Cheese sandwich that barely filled me up. I remembered why I don’t ever go to Hardees.

Oh, we’re supposed to be connecting this to Proverbs, aren’t we?

I think what you see in Proverbs 11:3 is a principle that could have helped Hardees. Integrity really means to have an identity and to be consistent with that identity. It means that who you are in private matches what you project in public. When that isn’t consistent, you’re headed for disaster. More importantly when who we are isn’t who we were created to be—it’s not going to ultimately thrive.

Contrast Hardees with Chick-fil-A. They never chase trends. They’ve stuck with high-quality chicken sandwiches and hospitality. They leaned into their identity and not away from it. Even when the culture around them changed, Chick-fil-A remained on-brand. They simply kept serving good food, treating customers well, and letting quality speak for itself. Chick-fil-A is now one of the most successful fast-food chains in America. Hardees is a ghost town.

Churches can learn this lesson too. A church that tries to be everything to everyone will lose its identity. But a church that is faithful to what it was called to be—preaching the gospel, making disciples, and building real community—will endure.

Believers, and the churches they attend, thrive when guided by integrity. When churches start chasing trends instead of following Jesus, they end up just like Hardees—a ghost town, wondering what went wrong. It may not look like that today. You might be in the 2007-2010 boom. Your racy ads are working. People are flocking. Everybody is talking about your brand. But if it isn’t built up on the rock of Christ, it’ll eventually collapse.

Pivoting to Novelty never works. Just be who you’re supposed to be. Let integrity guide you into long-term stability.

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[1] In your region it might be known as Carl Jr.’s. Or, quite possibly, you’ve not even heard of the burger chain.