Richmond, Va. -- Hardee's largest franchise operator, which has a heavy Virginia presence, is the mastermind behind the fast food chain's new Hand-Breaded Chicken Tenders.
The tenders, which Hardee's began rolling out last month, were developed by Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the North Carolina-based company that owns 338 Hardee's locations in four states, including 180 in Virginia and about 45 in the Richmond area.
The tenders, available at all 1,905 Hardee's restaurants, are made with all-white-meat chicken tenderloins that are hand-dipped in buttermilk, egg and flour and then fried. They are prepared at the restaurants.
"Once we tried them, we knew consumers would find them irresistible because they represent such a huge quality leap over the mostly pre-cooked and frozen chicken strips available now," said Brad Haley, executive vice president of marketing for Hardee's Food Systems.
While the tenders are new to Hardee's, Boddie-Noell has had them on the menu for several years at its 29 Texas Steakhouse & Saloon restaurants in Virginia, North Carolina and West Virginia.
Seeing how well the tenders sold at the Texas Steakhouse locations, Boddie-Noell took the menu item to Hardee's to consider.
"Hardee's management has always been receptive to input and suggestion from their franchise community," said Bill Boddie, president and CEO of Boddie-Noell.
Bruce Frazer, senior vice president for product marketing, research and development at St. Louis-based Hardee's Food Systems, said it's not common for franchisees to come up with new products.
"But it's not unheard of, either," he said.
Boddie-Noell has some experience coming up with menu items. It developed one of Hardee's most popular menu items -- the Made from Scratch Biscuits -- about 25 years ago.
The biscuits were first introduced in Virginia Beach, and the company was able to persuade Hardee's to put it on the menu nationally.
Hardee's menu items take about a year to go from idea to actually being available at restaurants, Frazer said. Before rolling out the tenders, Hardee's tested them for about six months at restaurants in Rocky Mount, N.C., and St. Louis.
"Both tests far exceeded our initial projections, so the decision to expand into all restaurants was easy," Frazer said.
-- Louis Llovio, Richmond Times-Dispatch