CKE Restaurants Inc. said its new premium Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders will be rolled out by Carl’s Jr. chainwide by early next month.
The chicken tenders — which are made from all-white meat chicken and dipped in a buttermilk-and-egg batter, rolled in seasoned flour and fried — were added to the menu at sister brand Hardee’s in June, where CKE officials said they have been a great success.
At Carl’s Jr., the Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders are priced at a recommended $2.99 for three, or $4.49 for a five-piece order. The tenders are served with the option of buttermilk ranch, honey-mustard or barbecue dipping sauces, and are available as part of a combination or kids meal.
The idea for hand-breading the tenders came from franchisee Boddie-Noell Enterprises, based in Rocky Mount, N.C., which also pioneered Hardee’s Made From Scratch biscuits about 25 years ago.
CKE officials said Carl’s Jr. previously used a “standard issue” pre-cooked frozen chicken strip, but the new product is a more superior offering that — while more labor intensive — has been a big hit with guests.
Beginning in September, the company started testing acceptance of the chicken tenders in early rollouts at Carl’s Jr. locations in San Diego, Portland, Ore., Oklahoma and Utah, among other markets, officials said.
“We love to be able to give Carl’s Jr. customers a ‘wow’ experience, as in, “Wow, I can’t believe I can get something that good at a fast-food place,’” said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE Restaurants. “We did that with the first sit-down restaurant quality burgers, The Six Dollar Burger, and now we’re doing it with chicken.
“In fact,” Haley added, “we may have even surpassed the quality you can get in most sit-down restaurants, since they often use the same kind of partially fried and frozen chicken strips that our fast-food competitors do.”
CKE Restaurants operates, licenses or franchises 1,239 Carl’s Jr. and 1,898 Hardee’s locations in 42 states and 18 countries.
Contact Lisa Jennings at [email protected].