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CKE Restaurants, parent of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, launches loyalty programCKE Restaurants, parent of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, launches loyalty program

Customers get a free menu item as soon as they sign up

Bret Thorn, Senior Food Editor

March 23, 2022

2 Min Read
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CKE Restaurants Inc., the parent company of quick-service chains Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., launched a loyalty program on Wednesday called My Rewards.

Upon registering, customers get a choice of a free Western Bacon Cheeseburger, Famous Star burger or Hand-Breaded Chicken Sandwich with any other purchase.

The company based in Franklin, Tenn., said members would get other offers over the course of the year, including 10% off a digital order, and buy one get one deals.

Additionally, members get 10 “Stars” for every dollar they spend, which can be redeemed for free menu items at the 150-, 300- and 500-star thresholds.

At 150 Stars they can get items such as a cookie, a biscuit at Hardee’s or a 5-piece order of French Toast Dips at Carl’s Jr. At 300 Stars they can get a breakfast biscuit, sandwich or burrito, and at 500 stars they can select premium items including Angus burgers.

As part of the program’s launch, members will get double Stars through May 17.

Chief brand officer Chad Crawford said feedback on the program had been positive in pilot markets including Atlanta, Nashville, Las Vegas, Denver and Colorado Springs, Colo.

“In today’s digital-first age, we want to reward our loyal customers in a fun and engaging way that brings craveable flavors to their fingertips and offers the VIP treatment while encouraging new guests to sign up as well,” Crawford said in a release announcing the program. “We were extremely pleased by the positive feedback from superfans in our pilot markets that gained early access to the program and are thrilled the national rollout is now here.”

There are more than 3,900 locations between the two brands, operating in 44 states and 42 foreign countries and U.S. territories.

Contact Bret Thorn at [email protected] 

Follow him on Twitter: @foodwriterdiary

Read more about:

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About the Author

Bret Thorn

Senior Food Editor, Nation's Restaurant News

Senior Food & Beverage Editor

Bret Thorn is senior food & beverage editor for Nation’s Restaurant News and Restaurant Hospitality for Informa’s Restaurants and Food Group, with responsibility for spotting and reporting on food and beverage trends across the country for both publications as well as guiding overall F&B coverage. 

He is the host of a podcast, In the Kitchen with Bret Thorn, which features interviews with chefs, food & beverage authorities and other experts in foodservice operations.

From 2005 to 2008 he also wrote the Kitchen Dish column for The New York Sun, covering restaurant openings and chefs’ career moves in New York City.

He joined Nation’s Restaurant News in 1999 after spending about five years in Thailand, where he wrote articles about business, banking and finance as well as restaurant reviews and food columns for Manager magazine and Asia Times newspaper. He joined Restaurant Hospitality’s staff in 2016 while retaining his position at NRN. 

A magna cum laude graduate of Tufts University in Medford, Mass., with a bachelor’s degree in history, and a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Thorn also studied traditional French cooking at Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine in Paris. He spent his junior year of college in China, studying Chinese language, history and culture for a semester each at Nanjing University and Beijing University. While in Beijing, he also worked for ABC News during the protests and ultimate crackdown in and around Tiananmen Square in 1989.

Thorn’s monthly column in Nation’s Restaurant News won the 2006 Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for best staff-written editorial or opinion column.

He served as president of the International Foodservice Editorial Council, or IFEC, in 2005.

Thorn wrote the entry on comfort food in the Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, 2nd edition, published in 2012. He also wrote a history of plated desserts for the Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets, published in 2015.

He was inducted into the Disciples d’Escoffier in 2014.

A Colorado native originally from Denver, Thorn lives in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Bret Thorn’s areas of expertise include food and beverage trends in restaurants, French cuisine, the cuisines of Asia in general and Thailand in particular, restaurant operations and service trends. 

Bret Thorn’s Experience: 

Nation’s Restaurant News, food & beverage editor, 1999-Present
New York Sun, columnist, 2005-2008 
Asia Times, sub editor, 1995-1997
Manager magazine, senior editor and restaurant critic, 1992-1997
ABC News, runner, May-July, 1989

Education:
Tufts University, BA in history, 1990
Peking University, studied Chinese language, spring, 1989
Nanjing University, studied Chinese language and culture, fall, 1988 
Le Cordon Bleu Ecole de Cuisine, Cértificat Elémentaire, 1986

Email: [email protected]

Social Media:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bret-thorn-468b663/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bret.thorn.52
Twitter: @foodwriterdiary
Instagram: @foodwriterdiary

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