Carl’s Jr. will add the first extension to its All-Natural Burger line Wednesday with a Mushroom & Swiss version, along with a “cheeky” new ad campaign that will feature a model going “all natural.”
All-Natural Burgers will also be rolled out this week at sister chain Hardee’s for the first time, indicating that the burgers made with grass-fed, free-range beef raised without added hormones, antibiotics or steroids have been a hit.
“The original All-Natural Burger introduced at Carl’s Jr. last December was very successful for us and has become a permanent menu item at that chain, even spawning a line extension,” said Brad Haley, chief marketing officer of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s parent CKE Restaurants Holdings Inc. “We are now rolling it out at sister chain Hardee’s as well.”
The new Mushroom & Swiss All-Natural Burger will feature natural hand-picked mushrooms, natural Swiss cheese, the same grass-fed beef patty free of hormones and steroids, and tomatoes, mayonnaise, lettuce and red onion on a freshly baked bun.
Carl’s Jr. promoted its original All-Natural Burger in a Super Bowl ad by creative agency 72andSunny that featured model Charlotte McKinney walking seemingly naked through a farmer’s market.
The commercial, titled “Au Naturel,” generated nearly 2.5 billion media impressions and 9.5 million YouTube views in its first two weeks, beating company records at the time, CKE officials said in February.
Officials with Carpinteria, Calif.-based CKE have only hinted at who the next All-Natural Burger bombshell is. The new ad, titled “Natural Beauties,” is scheduled to begin airing on July 27.
For those whose minds jump to Internet-breaking Kardashians, it wouldn’t be a first for Carl’s Jr. Kim Kardashian ate salads in bed for Carl’s Jr. back in 2009.
In interviews earlier this year, however, CKE CEO Andy Puzder reportedly said the chain only used Kardashian in the ads because they were promoting salads. He said she “wasn’t good at eating the burger.”
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