Dinner Break!!! Hardee's - Anoka, MN

It's All Here At Hardees

In a span of just under three months, the Hardee's restaurant in Anoka, MN, closed and the building was demolished. You know, the Hardee's that you stop at to get Hardee's, on your way to get Hardee's? Well, now it's gone forever. 

Because I'm sure that we've all had it with the Summer heat, here's a photo from X-Mess morning, 2019. Complete with piled-up snow and no cars blocking the view of the building.

For a simple 1970's TV spot, Hardee's sure put some time and energy into making this one.

Maybe it aired during that year's Super Bowl?

Now here's a photo taken from about 20 feet in front of the last one, on September 27, 2006.

Both of those large trees are long gone. The roof of the building was still shingled, not yet covered by the ugly red metal panels. That's also the old logo, from shortly after Carl's Jr. bought the franchise.

ENHANCE!

I don't know when the remodel changed the appearance of the Anoka Hardee's, but the logo was being changed to a script font, by 2006. Carl's Jr. dropped the older "slanted letters" logo they'd been using since the 1970's, when they bought the franchise in 1997. This was obviously their transition logo.

On July 7, 2022, the shovel you see in this picture, drove a path of destruction through the restaurant, traveling west to east. Tearing everything in it's path to pieces, both large and small. 

I'd been keeping a close eye on the state of the Anoka Hardee's. I drive by it multiple times a week, since it's not very far from our house. The proximity meant I'd be able to take decent pictures of it, in order to write a story like this one.

Honestly, I hadn't planned on writing this story immediately. Bigger stories like this one, I typically like to wait awhile before writing, to better plan it out. Gather supporting materials, comb deeper into notes... etc...

But...

On demolition day, I showed up to the site late since Laura and I were coming back from from Rochester, and I was now on my way to work. I parked across the street and walked over to what was left of the Anoka Hardee's.  As I was walking, I saw this guy...

His face and the landscape weren't pixelated in real life, because I had to zoom in from fairly far away.  Someone else was at the site TAKING PICTURES!!! 

That's my gimmick! 

Now I have to hurry up and get my Anoka Hardee's story written and posted, before this guy does! I'd just bet he runs a competing blog about abandoned buildings and FOOTBALL cards. Probably named "Touchdowns and Teardowns" or something, and it's probably filled with the enthusiasm of a close group of friends! The Anoka Hardee's is going to be featured next up on his blog. The latest installment in a long running series of abandoned restaurant stories, posted under the banner: Dinner Time!

He's wearing khaki shorts, so you know he's plotting against me!

Well, I'm going to one up him first! This story has chapters!

The Anoka Hardee's was located at 7th and Main. I don't know when it opened, wish I did... I think it was the late 1980's. I remember eating here in the early 1990's, and it seemed fairly new then. I also don't remember what else was on this corner, before Hardee's. 

Here it was on September 21, 2015.

Hardee's was founded by Wilber Hardee, who opened his first restaurant, in Greenville, North Carolina, on September 3, 1960. The second Hardee's arrived within a year. Over the next 20 years, Hardee's expanded (in many cases, buying and converting smaller regional chains) across the country, to over 2000 restaurants.

The only date I could find on this internet photo was 1973.

I have no idea how accurate that date is.

Their early 80's color scheme was very brown and orange, as this still from a 1982 TV advertisement. shows. The Coon Rapids Hardee's, at Northdale and Hanson, looked a great deal like this when you walked up the counter. I think they forced the staff to dress like that until about 1987, when the uniforms became slightly less degrading.

$10 for a kids meal is quite the bargain.

Even in 1980!

Hardee's slowly built themselves up as the 1980's churned forward. By the later half of that decade, they figured out how to crank up the marketing machine. Striking gold with a several year long campaign featuring claymation raisins, used to promote their breakfast cinnamon and raisin biscuits. 

Which were damn tasty too!

I ended up with quite a few of the Hardee's California Raisin toys.

Hardee's made (and sold) millions of these nationwide. With nothing to back me up on this wild speculation, I believe the California Raisins promotion, was Hardee's most successful in their history.

After returning to Minnesota, I drove by the Anoka Hardee's on June 17, 2018. 

Not only was it still open, but it was pretty busy. It was fairly busy most of the times I drove by it, which is why it's closure took me by surprise. One afternoon, I stopped in and ordered a basic quarter pounder (with cheese, pickles, onions and ketchup, my preferred toppings combo) and it was pretty good. Even better, it didn't make me sick.

The customer service wasn't so good.

And it never was.

No matter when I went there. 

But the burger was still pretty not bad. I'd stop in every other month or so for that quarter pounder, and pick up a Hot Ham & Cheese sammich for Laura. Until my schedule at work changed, and I moved to second shift. Now I couldn't stop by on my way home from work, since they were already closed. 

Luckily, I found the quarter pound cheeseburgers at Kwik Trip, a few blocks north on 7th Avenue, were almost as good as Hardee's. Plus they (usually) have fresh pickles and onions available at the condiment bar. I can put my burger together myself, and not have some uninterested teenager screw my order up! 

So Hardee's was replaced by Gas Station Burger.

The last time I was ever inside the Anoka Hardee's was May 3, 2019. I had to get up early and go to the dentist that morning, and was looking for food on my way home. Hardee's was directly in my path, both ways. Before ordering, I walked in to use the restroom and saw this:

Someone forgot their urine test on the sink! 

Combined with the general disgusting state of the restroom, I changed my mind on food from there. I drove up to Kwik Trip for my burger fix, and never went back to Anoka Hardee's, before they closed for good, in May 2022.

This closure removed yet another Hardee's from the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. Leaving just a single restaurant in St. Paul, and another in Oakdale. The rest of Hardee's 26 Minnesota locations are scattered around smaller towns throughout the state. 30 years ago, Hardee's had a much greater presence among fast food restaurants in Minnesota.

Now less than 30 remain.

Here's a look at a few that stand out. If only because I actually have pictures of them.

The St. Anthony location (a block or so north of Apache Plaza) closed in the late 1990's. It had been closed for well over a year, when I took this picture on December 31st, 1999. A Culver's restaurant has since been built in it's place.

An Arby's opened up inside the old Hardee's building, located in St. Peter, MN. They closed this location about 20 years ago, leaving a structure that looks exactly like Hardee's typical late 1970's style restaurants. Before it was an Arby's, I ate here a couple of times in the late 1990's, driving to or from Colorado.

Guess what sits next door to the St. Peter Arby's/Hardee's... A Kwik Trip!

Another hour or so southwest of St. Peter, there's a Hardee's in Windom, MN, that is still open today. Inside of another late 1970's style Hardee's building.

Both of these two Hardee's restaurants were photographed on the last drive from Minneapolis to Denver, on January 17, 2018. Once we got back there, we made our final drive to Minnesota on June 1st, 2018. We haven't been back to Colorado since. I really miss it.

But a newer Hardees is still open in Hinckley, MN. When Laura and I drove up to Two Harbors, MN, in 2018 (you can read about that here: Part One, Part Two). We stopped here for food, since we had a later start getting out of town. I remember getting a ridiculously huge bacon cheeseburger. It was pretty good, and didn't make me sick.

Their neighbor a few doors down is a completely boarded up Burger King. I took plenty of pictures of it, but all signage was gone and every windowed surface was covered in plywood. Still cool that Hardee's beat the King in the great battle for Hinckley, MN. But be weary, that Kwik Trip down the road is staring at you.

Once you get to Duluth, if it's still 1989 up there, you can eat at the Canal Park Hardee's! Located inside a renovated shipping warehouse. Of course there's no Hardee's inside this building now. So you're too late. Just like the old Canal Park Burger King a few blocks east of here. They outlived this Hardee's by probably a decade or so, but neither of them are around today.

This early 1980's commercial, featuring Nascar driver Bobby Allison, references Hardee's locations in the Fargo, ND/Moorhead, MN area. I know I've eaten at one of them, and at least one of them has been long closed up.

And the sun is setting on the Anoka Hardee's...

Kind of regret not trying the Garlic Bread Thickburger when I had the chance (on July 6, 2019, when I took this picture). 

That sounds pretty good!

A Little Closer to Home.

Continuing on with the theme of other closed up and formerly nearby Hardee's locations, I can't go much longer without mentioning the old Coon Rapids restaurant, at Northdale and Hanson. Better than Bonanza or the Burger King, and far above whatever was currently slinging hash at the old Country Kitchen.

Only Hardee's was a part of the August 1995 Crapids Honkass Around the Town Photo Tour. A series of photos of me taken around various locations in Coon Rapids. Something that absolutely should have happened more than once. Even with the limitations of 35mm film. The guy behind the camera was coincidentally the same guy who stopped to get Hardee's on his way to get Hardee's. But that was in 2004, and this picture was from 1995.

These next two pictures are from January 1997, and were taken by my mom. She liked to hang out here with her friends in the 1990's, with her friends or just on her own. She sent them to me to show how much snow Coon Rapids had gotten that winter. Out in Denver, we had no snow. In fact it was 75 degrees on New Years Day.

The old Hardee's sign that faced highway 10, along with the old and very inadequate Hanson ramp interchange. This was all redone in 2007.

Looking south from the Northdale Hardee's parking lot, towards Hanson Blvd. This is the only photo I have that includes the old Joyce Chapel. One of the older and more historic buildings in town, that was sadly demolished in order to widen the road. 

I found this image on the internet, of a circa 1988 Hardee's paper bag. The image had a name of Gregg Retirement, tagged on it. Don't know if that was the guy who scanned the original paper bag, or some secret Hardee's code word. Still, I was happy to see an image of this again.

Warm and fuzzies...

40 years ago, Hardee's ran a TV ad campaign, boasting about their Big Roast Beef sammich. We put a tape measure around it to show how big it is!

Looks rather tiny when held in the big hands of Benno, in July 1998. He gave me this picture back in 1998, and commented how small the sammich looked, compared to him. I thought of this when I saw that Roast Beef wrapped in measuring tape.

Another shot taken inside the old Northdale Hardee's.

Doing my typical exhaustive research on this story, I was trying to find the dates when Hardee's first broke away from their original char-broiled burgers. Best I could find was at some point in the early to mid 1980's. With the focus on "Where the Beef was at", Hardee's response was their "new jucier quarter pound burger."

They would then switch back to char-broiling, after Carl's Jr. purchased the franchise in 1997.

Also In 1997, Hardee's ran a promotion with the Fox Kids Network (is that still a thing?) and Huffy Bicycles, for a  Life With Louie promotion.

You could win food, a kids bike or other prizes. Each Hardee's Funmeal (a cheeseburger, fries, chocolate chip cookie and a drink) also came with one of four different Life With Louie toys. Each of the characters, including Louie's younger brother, both parents and the bully kid that was Louie's adversary, were all on bicycles, tying into the Huffy sponsor. I used to have the full set, but I don't anymore...

Before moving back to Minnesota, I traded a big stack of collectable toys to Fifty-Two 80's, in Denver, for a much smaller collection of collectable toys. Which was mainly stuff that I wasn't too hot on, and took up a lot of room for the move back. The deal wasn't contingent on these, but the owner of the shop told me that he was mainly interested in getting the Life With Louie toys. He liked the cartoon and hadn't seen them before. 

Kind of regret parting with them now...

Fifty-Two 80's wasn't interested in the Hardee's California Raisins.

I've always liked Louie Anderson, dating back to the late 1980's. Mr. Rux recorded his 1987 standup special on cable TV, since I didn't have access to it. We watched it several times in Basement World. He was my favorite host of Family Feud, and I really wish the Game Show Network would show some of those episodes. I've just plain had enough of watching Steve Harvey mug for the camera.

Even though I parted with the collection of Life With Louie toys, I kept a duplicate Louie. That orange blob besides Louie was his goldfish. Who could ride a bike outside of water, but still needed a helmet.

Cartoon logic!

Coon Rapids Hardee's, at Northdale and Hanson, closed in 2000. When the sign was removed, it left one of the worst Label Scars in recorded history. At least it showed the original dark brown color of the building. 

(Photo taken in May, 2001, from the 99 Spillihp parking lot, across Hanson. If you're new here, go read Part One and Part Two of my gas station story. It's worth it!)

After sitting closed up and for sale, for a couple of years, the Northdale Hardee's was demolished in April, 2002. It was determined that a reconstruction of the entire Northdale, Hanson Blvd. and Highway 10 interchange would need a decent chunk of Hardee's land. The doomed Village 10 Shopping Center sits in the background. That would also go in the coming months.

This photo is of the last stage of demolition. 

There's no trace of the building left, and the land is being cleared for it's next use...

A vacant lot. With a small pond where the drive thru ordering mechanism used to be.

BOOYA!!!

"Drinking coffee from a Hardee's mug... Aint nothing more Wallace than that!"

November, 2012. My Greenwood Point apartment, in Englewood, CO, coffee setup.

And yes, that is the same spoon that was tied to the ceiling of Basement World, for many years.

Unfortunately, I didn't have a Rise & Shine Mug. (Thanks, Googles!)

The ones my parents had were lost in the May 2020 house fire.

I remember those mugs in their kitchen since I was a little kid.

We're out to win you over.

Anoka Hardee's closed on May 1, 2022. 

Didn't see that coming... I was surprised by that news the next day, but not surprised by the closing itself. I'm sure that coming out of Covid, Hardee's was affected more than bigger fast food chains, whose numbers allowed them to absorb more losses. Since Hardee's was already phasing themselves out of the Twin Cities, it made sense for Anoka to be on the chopping block.

I stopped by Hardee's on my way to work the next day, which would have been May 3, 2022. Parking in front of the dining room windows to do a quick walk around the building. Before any major changes took place, that erased it's open days. Hardee's workers were still inside, doing just that. Cleaning up the remnants and effects of at least 30 years in business, at this location, before two days ago.

Looking out my very dirty passenger window (past the broken mirror on my car), I saw a guy loading bags of buns from the backroom door, into a waiting pickup truck. Found it kind of obnoxious that even with the restaurant being closed, they still had to show up in uniform to help clear the building.

Looking into the front entrance, nothing appears to be out of the ordinary.

When I came here, I was really hoping the drive thru still had the menu in place. I love getting a picture of intact drive thru menu's from defect restaurants. They serve as an awesome time stamp. But the Anoka Hardee's had already been removed by the time I made it here. A couple of the workers saw me walking around the property, but didn't say anything.

After all, what would they care? They were all out of jobs, as soon as the last of the buns were in the pickup.

The Hardee's sign on this weird gate/archway over the west side doors was likely to be removed pretty soon. The Hardee's sign at the corner of 7th and Main had already been taken down, so this one had to be next on the list to go.

This newer addition wasn't part of the original building, and the touch of modern didn't really fit the rest of the structure. That being said, those stars underneath the Hardee's logo are really cool!

Vaguely remembered this commercial from the late 1980's. I know I saw it a few times back then, and it amused me. But it didn't get near the play that Hardee's other ads were running at the time. The idea of competing fast food companies fighting an actual war was a pretty good for a TV spot. I like how they went with an army of Herb, instead of the much more obvious army of Burger King. Same with Clara Peller instead of a red haired pigtailed girl. 

This commercial was a loose inspiration for one of the fake movie reviews I wrote, back in 2015, for the How Not To Make A Movie Podcast. The hosts would discuss a specific movie, under a set theme, each week on the podcast. They would also assign a movie for me to watch, that I hadn't seen before. The gimmick was, that I wouldn't watch said movie, but would still read a review of it on their show. My review was based on what I thought the movie was about, pretty much going off just the title. 

In this case, I was assigned the movie Hamburger Hill. So I looked up the basic history of numerous fast food companies, both current and defunct, for some direction. Then made up an entire movie about an actual war fought on battlefields, by these companies. Using material from ad campaigns and actual events to fill in details in my fictional war. Then just making up how I felt about the stuff I made up.

Only did 26 of these reviews for their show, but they were a lot of fun to write!

As far as I know, you can't find the podcasts online anymore. I did compile them, along with the whole story behind it, for what has been to date, the last issue of Wasted Quarter. It's pretty rare.

Carl's Jr. and Hardee's were painted as conscientious objectors in my review of a movie I made up. Which featured one of my favorite paragraphs I've ever written: 

"Neither Carl nor Hardee had any interest in fighting this war. At the end of their statement of non-compete, Carl read: 'We're just going to sit in the hallway and make lame sexual innuendoes to go with our really big food. Peace.'"

Oh, Carl...

I went back to Anoka Hardee's on the morning of May 7, 2022. It was bright, sunny and cloudless. Less than ideal for taking abandoned building pictures, but it didn't interfere too much.

The pole that used to hold the Hardee's sign. At the corner of 7th and Main, in Anoka.

This picture would have been so much better on a cloudy day...

While I'd assumed the Hardee's sign over the west side doors would quickly be removed, I wasn't expecting the the rest of the sign to be taken down. The arched top and those sweet looking star cutouts are already gone. The two legs of the sign would be taken out a few days later. 

Peering through the southwest window of the dining room. Not the most comfortable, but I kind of liked the chairs on a stick, surrounding an immovable table. And those overhead lights are pretty cool too.

Even more chairs on a stick, along with some real chairs with legs.

All of  them assuming the position of surrender. Legs up, back down. Accepting their fate.

Main entrance.

You're welcome.

Hope that urine sample eventually got into the right hands...

Because of the low resolution of these coupons, it's difficult to read the text. The first sentence asks "What makes the Hardee's Double Cheeseburger so exceptional?" 

Well, the term exceptional would imply there is something amazing and new and different about that Hardee's Double Cheeseburger. But the text goes on to describe every Double Cheeseburger made by every fast food restaurant, ever... 

"How about mustard, ketchup and pickles..." 

Yeah! I can't get that anywhere else!

"on top of a 100% American beef patty?" 

At first the idea of Hardee's declaring their beef to be 100% American, made me laugh. Then I remembered the controversy in the 1980's, over chains like Burger King having deals with cattle ranchers in the Amazon Rainforest. 

Point being... Hardee's described their Double Cheeseburger as exceptional, then described it as anything but. 

They were pretty tasty though...

When Hardee's closed, I wanted to get a picture of the entire building, closed up, with the upside-down star logo on the wall. Everything I'd previously taken had cars blocking parts of it.

But the upside-down Hardee's star had already been painted over. Leaving a strange label scar, where you could still see the outline, through the tan cover-up paint.

Did Hardee's intend on the Star sitting crooked on the wall? Looks to me this was accidental. If it was tilted more, I could see the argument that it was planned this way. This 1 degree tilt looks like somebody simply made a mistake. 

Yeah, I wanted this picture to have the star on the wall.

I also wanted to walk around to the drive thru...

But they put this impenetrable barrier up, between me and that path. I have no idea how I'm going to possibly pass an obstacle of this size.

Weighing my options, I found that I was able to delicately squeeze my way around it, in order to pass. There was slightly more room on the right side, I don't know if I would have cleared it going to the left.

Walking up past where the drive thru menu and speaker once stood.

And around to the food dispensing windows. There's another Hardee's Star, covered up on the north wall. This one was at even more of an angle than the front of the building, with an even worse cover-up coat of paint.

But no one's going to see it with that cone blocking the way! 

What's directly inside the dirty drive thru windows?

A bunch of green wire shelving racks!

Fountain Cokes!

Where all that drive thru magic happens!

Hey Hardee's! You left your P.O.S. turned on!

Try 1... 2... 3... 4...

(That's Point Of Sale, not Piece Of Shit. Though, I'm sure many employees have referred to it as such...)

Better tell that P.O.S. over there!

Look at Hardee's showing some sass to the King!

Opposite the main entrance.

The doomed -yet uniformed- Hardee's employees did a good job of cleaning up the store that was showing them the door.

This walled and glassed off area served previous lives as a kids playroom, smoking section and meeting room. It's last use in life was storage.

Chairs in the opposite end of the room were still standing tall. They did not adopt the submissive "giving up" position, unlike their comrades in the main dining area.

Get that trashbin out of the way, and this room is all sorts of ready to host!

The problem with fast food restaurants that are laid out like this, is getting a decent shot of the front counter, through double glass doors.

ENHANCE!

Through that horrifying reflection of myself, you can almost see into the kitchen!

Where no one is going to make me a Brown Bag Special...

Fun Fact! Because I just don't care, I'm down to one haircut a year. Buzz it down to nothing and start over. The very next day after taking this picture, I shaved my head.

May 29, 2022: Wide angle, cloudy day, welfare check, west side.

May 29, 2022: Wide angle, cloudy day, welfare check, south side.

All Kinds of Good Stuff

Thanks to the Googles, I found a picture of Hardee's "All Kinds of Good Stuff" scratch game card, from the Summer of 1990. I gave it a few minutes of photoshop work, in attempts to make it look a little better. Trying to get rid of that "close window" X in the corner wasn't going so well, so deal with it. I remember this game, but it seemed like all of the valuable food prizes were from the breakfast menu.

I don't really value breakfast.

Speaking of 1990... Before landing her gig on the X Files, Gillian Anderson was trying to get laid at Hardee's, to promote their Roy Rogers acquisition.

The truth is out there...

As far as fast food goes, Hardee's holds a special place in my digestive tract, since I used to work at one of their restaurants, many years ago. A long gone Hardee's, that used to sit in the parking lot of Oak Park Plaza, in Blaine, MN.

That Oak Park Plaza Hardee's closed in the late 1990's, and reopened as a Burger King.

So the King won this round.

With only minor cosmetic changes to the building since then.

Back when this was still a Hardee's, I worked here from October 1992 to March 1993. 

This was my nametag.

It was the early 1990's, so this joke was still funny then. 

And I can't say I served anything with pride.

Do wish I still had some of those "Good Morning Egg" stickers...

My job at Hardee's was first as the buns toaster. Placing then, bread side down on a flat and very hot surface, that held a maximum of 12 bun tops or bottoms (but not both, because they were different thicknesses). The employee responsible for making the burgers tasty, worked to my right. They'd partner up with the grill person and myself, to assemble the sorta-most perfect meat flavored sandwich.

Soon enough, I was promoted to running the grill (which came with no wage increase). Though I quickly learned that you could really damage the ceiling tiles with the heavy spatulas they gave us! Spatula toss was a fun game to play with co-workers at the Oak Park Plaza Hardee's!

Just seeing a list of these specialty burgers on Hardee's menu brings back memories of making them. Though the Chicken and Fisherman's Fillet was handled by the fryer crew. The roast beef was heated up in an oven and sliced when you ordered that sammich. Usually, there was catch-all kitchen prep worker that would handle all of that. Later, Hardee's switched to pre-portioned and packaged roast beef, but when I worked there, it was freshly sliced. On the other hand, the Hot Ham 'N' Cheese and the Frisco Club sammiches were pre-portioned, and we had to make those ourselves. In little paper trays.

I worked there for about six months, earning both minimum wage and just slightly above. While I hated almost every minute of the job itself, I had a lot of fun hanging out with my coworkers, screwing around and doing little quality work. 

Such as drawing cartoons of Hardee's management in 3 Subject Noteboobs. Which was the name for a notebook shared during my senior year of high school, with upwards of 12 different friends. Most of whom were linked to me by either Hardee's, or Creative Writing class.

That very notebook was the origin of my nickname. Two random words, not even written by me. Still, a much better purpose for that page, than incomplete notes from an Economics lecture. I drifted off into my head very early in that lecture. Couldn't have even lasted 45 seconds before giving up. But that's me, Captain Lag Indicators...

Turns out I wasn't the only Oak Park Plaza Hardee's employee that was dabbling in creative writing...

There was a kid working up front as a cashier, with the rest of the teenage girls that Hardee's was employing. It was no secret to the store that he was crushing hard on one of them in particular. The subject of kitchen gossip, I heard that he once wrote a 13 page story, with much of the Oak Park Plaza Hardee's crew as the cast of characters. In which, the object of his affection played a prominent role. Sure, a few names were changed... 

That's not creepy at all!

It was a very weak attempt at a horror story and extremely poorly written, full of incomplete sentences and first draft quality content. One paragraph contained 7 sentences, all of which started with the word "They". 

They went here... They thought this... They saw that... They ate food... They liked it... They were happy... They hated the story they were all in...

It was almost five years after I left Hardee's before I finally got to read a copy of this story. One of my former co-workers gave me her copy. She was killed (in the story) towards the end. He and I weren't overly friendly with each other, and I was left out of his story. 

Drat.

Here's a random sample.

Heheheheh... Dotty computer printed...

"Their was a car sitting their waiting their."

And I felt my lunch well up in my throat.

As Gillian Anderson pre-Tindr'ed to show you, in 1990, Hardee’s purchased the Roy Rogers Roast Beef and Fried Chicken chain. Soon after, Hardee’s would adopt Roy Rogers' fried chicken recipe, and slowly roll the program out nationwide. It would start reaching the Twin Cities in 1992.

The Oak Park Plaza Hardee’s specifically, got fried chicken just after Thanksgiving 1992. 

Chicken arrived fresh, and we had to bread it and deep fry it, per order. The building we were operating in was already small, and to add all new chicken-specific fryers, coolers, heating bins, storage parts, utensils and everything else that had to be kept completely separate from the burger-making supplies, made working there even more difficult.

Because of cross-contamination concerns, if you were working the chicken side, you couldn't touch the burger half. And vice-versa. At the start of the program, about half of the kitchen staff was trained in on chicken, with the rest of us to receive training a little later on. Until everyone was properly cross trained. 

Initially, I refused to take part in it. I watched what was involved in the chicken prep and said: Nope. Not doing it. 

My co-workers stuck doing chicken would be covered in slimy poultry goo within 15 minutes of starting their shift. With more than half of the kitchen staff splitting their time between chicken and grill, I moved up to burger maker. Which I liked and was good at it. How could you be bad at it? But they again didn't increase my pay.

As far as the chicken went, sure it was delicious, but I'm still absolutely not making it!

In March of 1993, I was finally told that it was MANDATORY that I be trained in on making fried chicken. And I wouldn't get a raise until I was fully trained in on chicken.

Hmmm... Nope. 

Take on twice as much work, be coated in chicken goo for my entire shift, and get paid the same amount of money? Maybe 25 cents more? Yeah... I'm not doing that... So when the ultimatum was put in front of me, I called their bluff and quit.

Aw thanks, Dawn!

The Minnesota North Stars of the NHL left town for Dallas, Texas, in 1993. (Not long after I left Hardee's). The next year, the Minnesota Moose were born, as an expansion team in the International Hockey League. They played most of their games at the St. Paul Civic Center (with some games at Minneapolis' Target Center). 

Hardee's was a main sponsor of the team.

In March of 1995, the MN Moose worked up for a promotion that involved a baseball card store that I frequented. They had a package deal for a game where the concourse of the St. Paul Civic Center would have a sports card show all around the arena. Former MN North Stars hockey legends, as well as the Hanson Brothers, from the movie Slap Shot, would be there to sign autographs. I rented a table for this show, and found myself just to the right of the main entrance, across from the restrooms. (This is a story that I plan on covering here at some point.) I did quite well in sales and trades that day. 

Minnesota Moose hockey at the St. Paul Civic Center.

As part of our dealer package, we got autographs from all the North Stars legends in attendance, plus a swag bag full of MN Moose merchandise. Including an uncut team set of Hardee's Moose hockey cards. 

After two seasons in St. Paul, the Moose were sold to a group out of Canada, who took the franchise to Winnipeg, and renamed them the Manitoba Moose. They still exist there today, even though a newer incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets shares an arena with them.

The St. Paul Civic Center opened in 1973 and closed in April, 1998. After holding it's last events (the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament), the arena was demolished a month later. The Xcel Energy Center was built on it's site, opening in time for the NHL expansion, Minnesota Wild, to start play in the fall of 2000.

And there's your required baseball content!

Carl’s Jr. bought the entire Hardee’s chain in 1997. Carl’s Jr.'s charbroiled "Thickburgers" replaced the fried ones, that Hardee’s replaced their old charbroiled burgers with, back in the 1980's. Creating some sort of weird full circle deal in the process.

Existing Hardee's stores were either remodeled to run the new equipment, or closed down. The chain lost a great deal of franchises as 1999 turned into 2000. Hardee's logo would now include the trademark Carl's Jr. star, a long awaited re-branding from near 30 year old logos and marketing. It was once thought that all Hardee's restaurants would become Carl's Jr., but that didn't happen.

The new Hardee's logo -with Star- and script font, replacing the iconic 1970's slanted bubble letters. 

Beyond Burger not included.

Where Good People Go for Good Food.

On July 1, 2022, I was given a tip that the Anoka Hardee's was likely to be demolished soon. A shovel had been parked at the west end of the building, and those appear for only one reason. It's not there to add a pool...

Being the start of a three day holiday weekend, I knew I would have a chance to visit the property at least one more time before the building was flattened. Since it had been almost two months since I last walked around it, there would likely be new developments that needed to be worked into this story. 

Sunday, July 3, 2022, was a good morning for doing just that.

There's nothing worse than campaign signs blocking the view of perfectly good abandoned buildings.

I know who you are, and I will not vote for you since you ruined my picture!

Don't worry, I'm not loitering. Just walking around the building taking pictures.

That's cool right?

The red outline of the inverted star is showing through even more, two months after it was painted.

A cement picnic table was wedged between the back of the building and the dumpster structure. Sitting here would have been difficult, and I wondered why it was even put here in the first place. Since it wasn't taken away by now, it would likely meet the same fate as the building. I liked the table though. And if it wasn't in upwards of 500 pounds, it would have been kinda cool to have at the house. The wind certainly isn't blowing this this over...

It's real classy!

Well, not that classy...

At least that greatly obstructive cone has been removed, so I'm able to walk around this side of the building without resorting to acrobatics.

The drive thru star is really forcing it's way back through the cover-up. Good to see! They better tear this place down quickly before someone mistakes it for an actual working Hardee's!

Well, that P.O.S. has been taken out, along with the fountain.

The hole filled countertops remain.

Wire racks and nearly everything else are now gone.

A few of the fluorescent light covers are laying on the floor. With the bulbs removed, that's a sure sign that this building is coming down very soon. 

Front lobby area.

Looking into the dining area, which is significantly emptier than it was two months ago. All of the submissive chairs have been taken away. Hopefully shifted to less urban Hardee's around the state, so they can once again support the asses of cheeseburger pounding Americans!

Sadly dismantled exit sign with security lights, sitting dissected on the lone table left in this side of the dining area.

That one kid saying: "You'll never make it!" has haunted my subconscious since I first saw this commercial, some 30 plus years ago.

Funny how quickly these weeds have poked through the sidewalk in just two months.

Then I look at my driveway and remember that weeds are just dicks about growing where you don't want them. 

Yeah, the old roof was better. The circa' 2006 fake wood shingles looked a lot classier than this boring red paneling. Which was probably a lot cheaper to maintain...

The southwest corner of the dining room is still occupied with a small gaggle of chairs on a stick.

Apparently they were not worth removing.

Or no other surviving Hardee's wanted them.

No one wanted those booths either.

Kinda would have liked those lamps, they're pretty cool.

There's another gutted exit sign on the table.

More booths no one wanted.

Glad they left the inside door open, so I could kind of get an acceptable photo of the counter the Coke fountains used to sit on top of. I liked the silver textured panels on the wall behind where they were. Always thought this Hardee's should have used that more in the interior design of this restaurant.

The front star is showing more as well...

And this would be the last photo I took of the intact Anoka Hardee's. July 3rd, 2022.

Since Hardee's was making bank with a bunch of claymation raisins signing "I Heard It Through The Grapevine", they doubled down on the oldies to market their ice cream. But I don't understand why this weird dude is ignoring his chick for ice cream. Give her the ice cream and go buy more for yourself you stupid idiot!

Wait, you probably can't.

Like the ice cream machine is even working!

On the other hand... These were available every morning and really tasty.

You could even pair them with a "Good Morning Egg". 

If that is your thing...

Are You Ready For Some Real Food?

Laura and I were out of town for a couple of days, and I was worried that I might miss the demolition of Anoka Hardee's. We made it back home, early in the afternoon of July 7, 2022. I had to go to work almost immediately after unpacking the car. But first, a quick drive into Anoka

Westbound on Main street, I could not see the line of the red roof on my approach. Seconds later I saw the pile of rubble that remained. Anoka Hardee's was about 85% demolished. I drove through the 7th Avenue intersection, in order to park across the street. Then I'd walk over, for a closer and more detailed look.

If you look closely, you can see my "competition" walking up the drive thru lane. 

My hopes were to arrive in time to take some mid-demolition pictures. Ones where parts of the building are intact, some of it is flattened rubble, with the shovel somewhere in the middle of it all, doing it's thing. Those are my favorite pictures I can get.

Not sure where this dirt came from. It wasn't here on Sunday...

Actual demolition work had ended for the day. With the exception of the coolers and dumpster shelter, the building was down. Work now shifted to sorting out the stuff worthy of recycling. Like this large pile of metal scrap. Consisting of roof panels, heating and AC ducts and parts, and leftover kitchen equipment.

With mini window blinds and lots of broken glass windows littering the drive thru. Watching the windows pop out and shatter, as the shovel rips apart the structure holding them in, is one of my favorite parts of building demolition. I missed out here, but there's the evidence all over the ground.

Almost as much as I like that sort of destruction, I like a good Turkey and Bacon sammich even more.

Cute little jingle about sammich ingredients. Soon as I found this commercial, it was added to my vast ITunes playlist. While this is from the early 1970's, this is the same sammich Hardee's brought back in the late 1980's. Get that nasty mayo off it, and you've got one of the tastiest things Hardee's has ever had on the menu.

Which was part of their Supreme Specialty Sammich line, but isn't mentioned in this sheet of coupons. I know it existed, because it was a Hardee's favorite of mine. As was their 1/4lb Cheeseburger...

Thank you whoever scanned these great 1980's era Hardee's coupons, for all to enjoy. 

They used to be made in the kitchen that was once here. I didn't walk up to that freezer for a picture inside, and regret it... 

Next time...

The drive thru pick up window used to be here. The drive thru window glass is now spilled all over the drive thru.

Looking through the drive thru, towards the former dining area.

If you would have acted quickly, you could have picked up an official chunk of Hardee's Star painting on the bricks. There was a few of them amongst the fallen pieces of wall.

Coolers and dumpster zone were fairly untouched on the first day of demolition. And there's that sweet little picnic table, wedged between structures. Such an odd place for it, and there's little doubt it will soon be smashed apart with the rest of what's left.

Really doubt they paid Cheech to do the voice over...

Something you could have enjoyed at a picnic could have been Hardee's brief test marketing of their own brand of Hot Pockets. I remember trying these a few times. They weren't bad, but they sure were greasy. Pepperoni tends to do that. You could turn a napkin orange in short order, thanks to these things.

Shovel, satisfied with what it's done.

I like how the front dining room windows just fell out of the building, onto the sidewalk.

Some of the chairs on a sick are poking out of the rubble. Looks like they lost their seat cushions during all the commotion. I don't see any remains of the tables they once surrounded. Nor can I find any of those cool red overhead lamps.

Walking back around the corner, on my way off the property.

Wish I could have been here about 3 hours earlier. 

Would've gotten some better pictures...

And had I been here about 3 months earlier, I could've enjoyed a Frisco Burger....

Best Eatin' in Town, Up and Down, and All Around.

I also dropped by the remnants of Anoka Hardee's the next day (July 8, 2022), for a demolition progress check. 

In addition to the shovel facing the opposite direction, most of the wood, glass, plastic and brick debris has been scraped up.

There's still two large piles of recyclables waiting to be scooped into a haul-away truck. 

You know what that reminds me of?

Promotions!

Ghostbusters 2 was a big deal in the Summer of 1989. I watched it again a few months back, and it was really not very good. Probably because I watched the original 1984 movie shortly before it, and the two just can't compare.

Either way, Hardee's was chosen as the official fast food restaurant sponsor for the sequel.

Because of course it did, the promotion even had a commercial!

I remember those noisemaker things, and had a few of them back in the day. But I couldn't find any of them for this story.

Googles to the rescue, I found lots of images of the official Hardee's Ghostbusters 2 noisemaking toys! Seems as though a bunch of them survived the last 30 years.

Back to destruction...

The coolers have been taken out, but the dumpster shelter is still in place. Mixed in with this assortment of stray bricks would be what's left of my favorite picnic table at the Anoka Hardee's.

Dumpsters are gone, but there a couple of mop buckets and a desk chair left behind if you want them.

I didn't.

So that's all that was left of my picnic table. Pretty sad. 

It's probably a lot lighter now...

Probably need a brush with narrower teeth to get all this cleaned up.

Did you know: When you work at Hardee’s, you can make your own Mega Frisco Burger!

Instead of the standard single quarter pound patty, 1 slice of American and 1 slice of Swiss cheese, bacon and tomato, you can use TWO quarter pound patties and FOUR slices of cheese. And the only limit on bacon is your imagination! I usually toasted my sourdough bread longer than what the customers got. I prefer a little crunch to my toast. Not the greasy flaccid warm bread that some places pass for toast. You’ll probably want to wait until management has left for the night before creating your own Frisco Masterpiece, or they may get cranky.

But they were all fat, so just make them one of their very own!

I don’t care how many times I see this electrical shock diagram, I still love it!

I don't have any tattoos and I don't want any tattoos. But I were to get one, it would either be this or Bob the Duck.

No, it would be Bob the Duck.

More broken glass with something I can’t identify up front.

Lots more broken glass…

After the May 2020 fire at my parents house, we spent hours digging through debris very similar to this. Only difference being theirs was burned, this was deliberately taken down. But the pieces are similar.

Amongst the hundreds of small items I took from the house was this promotional Hardee's discount card.

Granting people over 55, a 10% discount. The card was from 1992.

And now I realized I'm less than ten years away from 55. 

I was 17 when I worked at Hardee's.

Too much perspective...

The shovel’s finished for the day.

A mixed up pile of scrap that was partially used to cook food, and partially used to cool and heat the restaurant.

Some more great safety diagrams...

Some more great destroyed equipment…

The last picture of the day (July 8, 2022) of the demolished Anoka Hardee’s.

I don’t remember Hardee’s selling hot dogs.

Not saying it didn't happen.

I also have all four Hardee’s Squirters. None of mine have ever squirted. They have sat on a shelf for different stretches of the last 32 years. Now I think they’re in a box in the basement. I really need to organize all of the random stuff packed away in my basement.

A couple of days later (July 10, 2022), more debris has been cleared.

From the south…

July 13, 2022.

Where do they keep getting the additional dirt from? Unless they’re just digging up and burying the remaining pieces of Hardee’s that weren’t big enough to bother scrape into the haul-aways.

Oh! They're the "Mouths From Tang!"

Because calling them “Tang Lips” probably wouldn’t sell too many units...

People would be too busy giggling to actually order them.

I’ve had these in the archives since 1989, but I quickly forgot this was a Hardee’s promotion. Remembering the old Twizzler’s licorice ad campaign featuring just mouths telling you eat Twizzler’s, with weird vocal accents and zany backgrounds. That was a thing around this same time frame. I thought these were a part of all that.

There’s really nothing about these that suggest a powdered orange breakfast drink. 

Which I don't believe was sold at Hardee's. 

They had their own packaged orange juice that was actually really good.

July 24, 2022

From the west side…

From the south side…

Today (well, pre-pandemic numbers) Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. have close to 4,000 locations, worldwide. 

Now minus Anoka, MN.

Hardee's -to me- was a fast food restaurant that had ok food now, but better food and stronger memories of 25-40 years ago, than anything favorable today. Because even though it wasn't the same thing at all, I kind of liked to see Hardee's several times a week (as I was on my way to Kwik Trip). It was just another link to that period of time that is forever gone.

Goodbye Anoka Hardee's. I'll kind of miss you.

Although you've been pretty irrellivent to me since Carl's Jr. bought you. 

Before that... Probably my favorite fast food burger joint.

Now get in the break room and watch this video!

******

Episode 5: All's Fair In...

March 9, 2015

War is a popular topic for movies. You name the war, there are tons of movies that have been made about it. This week's movie review is for Hamburger Hill, a movie detailing the cutthroat fast food wars.

Now, I'm not entirely sure how accurate this movie was. They say history is written by the winners, but in this war, the winners are hard to identify. 

The biggest tragedy in war is obviously the casualties. And in nearly every war, the sheer number of casualties is highest in the lowest ranking ground soldiers. 

On all sides, minimum wage employees fought hard and paid the ultimate sacrifice. While their leaders sat comfortably away from the front lines, ignoring the massacre in favor of newer promotions.

This narrative is demonstrated in Hamburger Hill, as camera pans over fields and parking lots lined with the dead. Miles and miles of corpses, paper hats and ketchup.

General McDonald stands tall surveying the loyally deceased. Having slowly risen through the ranks since his early days slinging greasy mess hall BBQ. 

Gaining notoriety through advances in milkshake technology through the years, McDonald showed shrewd business acumen by cutting expenses in favor of quality of supplies. 

McDonald's troops disproportionately outnumbered the opposition to the point where the millions slaughtered were mere collateral damage, the McDonald Machine -as insiders referred to him- would simply crank out billions and billions.

Hamburger Hill never comes out and identifies General McDonald as the winner in the high stakes fast food war, but it does paint him in that light. 

With hints at McDonald's ulterior motives and underhanded and cruel tactics. One scene in particular depicts his red curly afro and painted on smile, luring his prey in with low-level poison.

As the battle was reaching it's peak, McDonald formed an unlikely alliance with the Chipotle army. Using them and the Boston Market platoon to fend off any scattered uprising from those who turned their noses up to McDonald's sketchy methods. 

However, these two factions were severed away as soon as they were no longer needed.

The King was McDonald's most formidable opponent. A new recruit that took calculated measure in distancing himself from his opposition's ways. 

The King launched the first attack via their new and ultra-violent weapon, the Flame Broiler Thrower. Wave after wave of scorched earth battle tactics weakened General McDonald, leading The King to start a public smearing campaign via radio, television, printed media, internet and telegraph. 

However, The King used underhanded techniques, insulting McDonald's manhood in thinly veiled messages comparing the size of his beef to that of McDonalds. This idea was credited to The King's top advisor, known only as Herb.

If there were an equivalent of a bratty younger sister as a warring faction, Hamburger Hill cast Wendy in that role. 

A brash young female recruit that quickly rose through the ranks, Wendy effectively kicked the King in the royal jewels. Wendy took power and forces from both sides, to eventually become a close second to McDonald's standing in the war. 

Using a strange approach of killing while caring. Where others would kill without conscience, Wendy would say: "Fuck you, I have a salad bar!"

One of the most disturbingly touching scenes in Hamburger Hill doesn't come from the gruesome deaths of seemingly thousands of McEmployees, it belongs to a sympathetic 75 year old lady who epitomized the innocent victims of this senseless war. 

A Wendy loyalist identified only by the name Clara, was killed when she accidentally stepped on a Jack-In-The-Land-Mine. Just before she exploded, she asked a private: "Where's the beef?"

The soldiers say a few words over her confetti sized remains, before seeking shelter inside a small White Castle like building. Unknown to them, this was a trap. The entire platoon was quickly overcome by an animal-vegetable based poison gas.

After a reflective moment where retired Colonel Burger Chef and retired Corporal Maid-Rite discuss the origins of the battle over a sack full of loose meat sandwiches, the movie takes a lighter turn in the story of Wilbur Hardeee. 

Early on, Hardee blind sided The King by inventing his own copycat weapon, the Char Broiler Thrower, and was a near constant annoyance to The King for almost 25 years. 

However, Hardee wasn't an effective leader, and the war eventually drove him insane. Worn down from years of battle, Hardee voluntarily dismantled the Char Broiler Thrower as part of a truce with The King, brokered by Uncle Alligator of the RAX. 

Hardee's power and influence drastically diminished, as he became fascinated by hexagons and Roy Rogers chicken. Hardee was destitute and broken when he was taken in by his immature cousin, Crazy Carl Jr. 

Neither Carl nor Hardee had any interest in fighting this war. At the end of their statement of non-compete, Carl read: "We're just going to sit in the hallway and make lame sexual innuendoes to go with our really big food. Peace."

Hamburger Hill took on an out-of-left field turn when a brand new super-army going by the acronym YUM showed up. With zero loyalties in the battle, YUM struck without prejudice. 

Nearly wiping out foot soldiers on all sides with a toxic chemical warfare attack, distributed through low grade chicken drumsticks, pre-made burritos, rancid pizzas and limp fish sticks. The slaughter was quick, swift and tide-turning. YUM's battle plan was brilliant. Don't go after the head, instead shred the body from the toes up.

And I guess that is the moral of the story?

The movie just kind of ends here. Credits roll over a similar field of death as the opening sequence. McDonald's army was left nearly as strong as ever. The King is regrouping. Wendy has hit puberty. And Carl is digging french fries out of the couch with his butt crack sticking out. 

I'm guessing that this is all to set up a sequel. You know the big Summer movie season is coming up, and sequels are still the rage. I feel ripped off that Hamburger Hill ended with a non-ending, especially with YUM painted as such a formidable threat.

So I hope Hollywood gives me that story soon...

And I'm going to get something to eat.

******

Hey! H! Marteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!