Dive Brief:
- A major Hardee’s franchisees, Superior Star Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections last week, court records show.
- The Arizona-based company had between $10 million and $50 million in assets and the same range of liabilities at the time of bankruptcy, per the court filing.
- As of 2024, the operator had at least 93 Hardee’s locations in 11 states. In 2025, 32 Superior Star-owned locations were either closed or their franchise agreements were terminated. It had at least 60 still in the brand’s system as of January, according to Hardee’s franchise disclosure document.
Dive Insight:
Hardee’s has seen several major franchisee bankruptcies in recent years, with Summit Restaurant’s 2023 filing resulting in dozens of closures, and ARC Burger closing 77 stores last year in advance of its April Chapter 7 filing.
Hardee’s store count has dropped over the years, from a total of 1,754 at the start of fiscal 2023 to 1,485 at the end of fiscal 2026, a combined decline of 269 stores, or more than 15% of Hardee’s system, according to its FDD.
In addition to a declining unit count, the chain faces relatively low average unit volumes, with a roughly $1.4 million AUV at freestanding, franchised locations, according to the FDD. Circana’s analysis of the performance of major restaurant brands ranked Hardee’s 37th out of 50 major restaurant chains in terms of unit volume, behind brands like McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Whataburger and Sonic.
Sister brand Carl’s Jr. has also seen significant trouble with some of its operators — Friendly Franchisees Corporation, a 65-unit franchisee of Carl’s Jr., filed for Ch. 11 protections in April.
The struggles come as parent company CKE has sought to forge distinctive brand identities for the two chains in recent years. CKE’s brands have also tried to turn buzzy LTOs and menu trends into sales success, like Hardee’s recent Hot Honey Platform, which launched in June.
