Claremont, NC - CKE Restaurants, Inc., parent of Hardee's Food Systems, Inc., and North Carolina-based WSMP Inc. announced that they will test a retail sandwich line in supermarkets and convenience stores in Detroit and Phoenix, and other retail outlets in select markets west of the Mississippi.
The agreement, which follows several months of product quality testing, calls for sandwiches to be packaged and sold under the Hardee's label. Late last year, WSMP announced that the company also would test a line of Hardee's biscuits in select markets west of the Mississippi.
"This latest joint effort is a natural extension of Hardee's breakfast biscuit project," said Andrew F. Puzder, CKE Restaurants, Inc. "We see this as an excellent opportunity to build on Hardee's existing brand equity and to reach an entirely new group of customers."
"We are extremely pleased with the confidence Hardee's has expressed in our ability to meet its exacting quality standards," said David R. Clark, WSMP president and chief operating officer. "This latest agreement provides additional strength to our branded sandwich program, which is a key part of our company's home meal replacement activities. We expect this program to create excitement with retailers, who will now provide customers a full line of ready to heat and eat sandwiches under one of the nation's best known restaurant brands."
WSMP expects the new line of sandwiches to appear in supermarkets and other retail outlets within 90 days. The new product line will include a variety of cheeseburgers, chicken and other lunch and dinner sandwiches.
Earlier this year, WSMP announced that it had joined forces with three other national restaurant companies to introduce new lines of sandwiches and burritos to be sold in supermarkets and other retail outlets. WSMP has revealed plans for a complete line of lunch and dinner sandwiches to be distributed nationally under the Checkers Drive-In Restaurant and Rally's Hamburgers brands. The burritos will be sold under the Green Burrito brand. In all cases, the products will be distributed by WSMP's prepared foods division in Claremont, N.C.
CKE Restaurants, Inc., through its subsidiaries, franchisees and licensees, operates 3,048 Hardee's quick- service restaurants in 39 states and 11 foreign countries; 696 Carl's Jr., including 115 Carl's Jr./Green Burrito dual-brand locations, primarily located in California, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, and Mexico; 109 Taco Bueno quick-service restaurants; 26 Rally's quick-service restaurants; 95 JB's Restaurants and six Galaxy Diner restaurants.
On Monday, it was announced that WSMP has signed a letter of intent with Tyson Foods, Inc. to acquire the core business of Pierre Foods from Tyson. This transaction will provide WSMP vertical integration in the sandwich business as the Pierre Foods business WSMP plans to acquire includes the production of precooked meat products for sandwiches as well as for the foodservice industry. Today, WSMP is comprised of a variety of prepared foods operations and a restaurant division. In its prepared foods operations, WSMP has the capacity to produce more than 4.5 million microwaveable sandwiches per week and it already produces and packages sandwiches under numerous nationally recognized labels. It also provides various packaged items targeted for the home meal replacement market and is one of the nation's largest country ham producers.
In addition to its prepared food operations, WSMP's restaurant division owns and operates 35 Texas-style Sagebrush Steakhouse and Saloon(R) restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee. The company's other restaurant operations include 25 company-owned and 44 franchised restaurants, with a majority of these being Western Steer(R) Steaks, Buffet and Bakery restaurants, Prime Sirloin(R) Buffet, Bakery and Steaks restaurants, and Bennett's(TM) Smokehouse and Saloon restaurants.
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