Hardee's is leaning into cold-weather protein demand with a four-item Flame-Grilled Steak platform that spans breakfast and lunch, the latest limited-time push from CKE Restaurants Holdings as the Franklin, Tenn.-based parent works to hold daypart share across its 1,400-unit domestic footprint.
The Platform
The new lineup includes a Flame-Grilled Steak Biscuit — steak slices, a fried egg, and Swiss cheese on Hardee's signature Made from Scratch™ Biscuit — and a Flame-Grilled Steak Breakfast Burrito loaded with steak, folded egg, Hash Rounds, and Swiss and cheddar cheeses, served with Texas Pete hot sauce. A Flame-Grilled Steak Breakfast Bowl delivers a similar protein stack over crispy Hash Rounds. For the lunch and dinner daypart, a Flame-Grilled Steak Frisco pairs the steak with Swiss, lettuce, tomato, and garlic mayo on buttery toasted sourdough.
"Breakfast is what Hardee's is known for, and flame-grilled steak, packed with protein, is a hearty way to start the day," said Alisa Gmelich, president of Hardee's. "For lunch and dinner, we're putting it on our Frisco with melty Swiss, crisp lettuce and fresh tomatoes on buttery toasted sourdough. It's the kind of meal you want when the weather turns cold."
Daypart & Promotional Context
The steak platform arrives as QSR operators broadly chase protein-centric menu credibility — a trend accelerating alongside consumer demand for high-satiety, value-forward LTOs. For Hardee's, which competes with McDonald's, Burger King, and Jack in the Box across its core Southeast and Midwest markets, steak has historically served as a breakfast differentiator, allowing the chain to command a modest ticket premium over egg-and-cheese standards. Extending steak into the Frisco sandwich also signals an effort to capture incremental lunch traffic without launching an entirely new platform.
Hardee's is simultaneously running its S'mores platform through January 27 — an iced coffee, fried pie, and Hand-Scooped Ice Cream Shake anchored around chocolate-marshmallow flavor — giving operators overlapping LTO coverage across sweet and savory occasions. To drive digital engagement and app adoption around National Fast Food Day on November 13, My Rewards members can take 25% off snacks, sides, and shakes from November 13–16 via the app, reinforcing CKE's ongoing push toward loyalty-channel orders over third-party delivery economics.
Franchise Implications
With more than 3,600 combined franchised and company-operated units across Carl's Jr. and Hardee's in 44 U.S. states and 35-plus foreign countries, CKE's ability to execute coordinated LTO rollouts at scale depends heavily on franchisee buy-in and supply-chain coordination. A steak platform requires consistent protein sourcing and cook-line discipline — operational asks that tend to stress smaller franchise groups more than regional or multi-unit operators. How the Flame-Grilled Steak platform performs in the breakfast daypart, where Hardee's competes most directly on Made from Scratch Biscuit equity, will likely determine whether CKE deepens steak as a recurring platform or rotates it seasonally. For more on how QSR chains are building LTO strategies around protein platforms, see our coverage of emerging menu trends and franchise development dynamics.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
