Fast-Food Chains Buck the Healthy Trend

Burger joints are making healthy profits by catering to Americans' appetite for beefed-up menus at bargain prices. (Burp!) Search for business contacts: PREMIUM SEARCH Search by job title, geography and build a list of executive contacts Two years ago, just as all sorts of fast-food restaurants were adding salads and healthier items to their menus, Andrew F. Puzder went in the opposite direction. The chief executive of CKE Restaurants , which owns the Hardee's and Carl's Jr. restaurant chains, bet that what his customers really wanted were even bigger, juicier, and better-tasting burgers. Super size? Try monster size. He introduced a 1,400-calorie burger called the 1-lb Double Six Dollar Burger for $5.49 and followed that up with a series of artery-clogging sandwiches. Customers have been gobbling them up. On June 27, CKE... [read full story]