CKE Restaurants Inc., the owner of Carl's Jr and Hardee's announced its second fiscal quarter financial results for the 12 weeks ended Aug. 13.
Results showed that company-operated same-store sales increased 2.9 percent, with Carl's Jr. same-store sales up 4 percent and Hardee's same-store sales increasing 1.6 percent in the quarter.
During the company's earnings call, CEO Andrew Puzder said these results were largely due to new product launches, according to QSRWeb.com.
This includes the grilled cheese bacon burger, which was supported by a national advertising campaign in conjunction with Columbia Pictures' The Amazing Spider-Man, as well as the bacon bacon biscuit and hand-breaded chicken wrappers. Meanwhile, Carl's Jr. got a boost from the rollout of sweet potato fries and continued to yield positive results from its Made From Scratch Biscuits that were introduced in November 2011.
"The biscuits at Carl's Jr. have been a big help (with breakfast), but all dayparts have been contributing," Puzder said.
The big battle the company faced during the quarter was the heat wave, particularly in Hardee's markets in July. The aftermath of the heat is also causing commodity pricing concerns.
"Beef is our big protein and with the drought, we expect an increase to come (in pricing). We can deal with it in a couple of ways - with pricing and with our other proteins. We have chicken sandwiches and turkey burgers. We just have to wait and see what those increases really are," Puzder said.
However, don't expect a mass introduction of new chicken products. Puzder pointed out that the chains' competitors are coming out with many chicken items right now. "Which means we probably won't because whatever they do we don't do," he said.
