ROCKY MOUNT N.C. Wilbur Hardee, the decidedly free spirit who founded the Hardee’s quick-service chain in 1960 and hatched 85 other restaurant concepts throughout the Southeast, died here Friday, according to Hardee’s current owner, CKE Restaurants Inc.
The company said the entrepreneur was 89 years old, but gave his date of birth as Aug. 15, 1917, which would have made him 90.
Hardee, who also worked as a musician and a cook, opened the first Hardee’s restaurant in 1960 in Greenville, N.C. The prototype featured 15-cent hamburgers that were cooked to order on a charcoal broiler, which would become a signature of the chain. Hardee teamed up with Jim Gardner and Leonard Rawls to sell franchises, with the first franchised unit opening in spring of 1961.
Hardee also helped form one of the chain’s first franchisees, Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which today operates 350 units in addition to other concepts.
Hardee bowed out of the chain early in its expansion push. However, he remained involved long enough to indulge such eccentricities as a penchant for Chinese food and architectural features, which were briefly instilled into the burger concept.
After parting with Hardee’s, the concept’s founder continued to launch new restaurant concepts until 1991, according to CKE, which bought the Hardee’s brand in 1997. The company said the entrepreneur would launch more than seven dozen concepts in total.
Although Hardee had no dealing for decades with the burger chain that bears his name, he was invited to the concept’s 40th birthday celebration in 2000, which was also attended by Carl Karcher, the founder of CKE’s other burger concept, Carl’s Jr. Karcher passed away earlier this year, at age 90.
Hardee is survived by his wife of 22 years, Helen Galloway Hardee; two daughters, Ann Hardee Riggs and Nancy Kathryn Hardee Baker; and a stepdaughter, Patricia Vernon Phelps.
The Hardee’s chain consists of 1,926 restaurants.
