The surprising closure of numerous Hardee’s locations in multiple states in the South and Midwest caught communities, and employees off-guard. Some closures happened in the middle of shifts and came without any warning at all, leaving hundreds of workers without a job.
The reason for the Hardee’s closures remains a mystery as there is no official explanation behind the sudden turn of events.
The states affected include, Kansas, Georgia, Missouri, and South Carolina. Five locations in Kansas alone closed their doors for good, and in Fort Mills, SC – a location on Main Street that had been open since the 1970’s has seen it’s final hour.
CN2 News spoke with a manager at the South Carolina location who said that the news came “as a shock” and that they weren’t given any warning about the impending end.
Another affected employees posted to a Wichita, Kansas sub-reddit:
“We were open this morning and closed around 2pm today to never open again. There was no warning or notice to anyone at all. 100+ people are out of jobs.
Update: We are supposed to find out more tomorrow. Upper management is telling us to not tell anyone. Oops. I will update when I get more information.”
Another person replied: “I tried going over to the one in derby on my way home from work this evening and was shocked to find that the store windows were boarded up with signs. I never ate there often so I just figured business was bad and derby taxes were too high, but crazy to see all locations just randomly closed for no reason.”
Sign Of The Times?
The multiple shutdowns come on the heels of recent news in the fast food world where other franchises have faced a similar plight. Burger King closed over 25 locations in Michigan last April and McDonald’s made news when they closed their offices in Chicago and laid off workers.
Speculation persists with the economy on the downswing and worker shortages at fast food locations nationwide. Franchisees may be cutting their losses on unprofitable locations and downsizing their footprint for the meantime.
A Hardee’s spokesperson told Nation’s Restaurant News that CKE Restaurant Holdings (the parent company of Hardee’s) is “aware” of the closings and “working diligently to ensure that the impact to guests, employees, vendors, and communities is minimized.”
Even with the recent closures, there are still 2100 Hardee’s locations open across the country.
