The Poker Game That Caused Hardee's To Change Owners

If you owned a business, would you bet it on a poker game? Chances are you wouldn't, but that seems to be how Wilber Hardee lost the company he founded, changing his life forever.

When the first Hardee's location opened in 1959, founder Wilber Hardee had an entrepreneurial vision and franchise ambitions. After a Sunday morning spent spectating the crowd at the opening of the first McDonald's in North Carolina, Hardee was inspired to make his mark on the world with his very own fast food venture (per Our State). Come September of 1960, Hardee's opened its doors to the public with a minimalist menu that featured fried apple pies, fries, soft drinks, milkshakes, and the iconic char-grilled 15-cent hamburger. The fledgling fast food joint exceeded expectations as profits came rolling in, and within a few short months after opening his flagship restaurant, Hardee began plotting for expansion. 

To help with the logistics of opening a second location, Hardee met with accountant Leonard Rawls and Jim Gardner, the son of a local dairy farmer. The three soon came to the agreement to enter into an equal partnership, incorporate Hardee's, and sell franchises across the nation. Within a year of the company's debut, the second location was up and running — and business was booming. But the good fortune wouldn't last long, as one fateful night would strip Hardee of everything he worked for.

Soon after the opening of the second Hardee's location, Gardner, Rawls, and Hardee found themselves in a poker game late one evening. Legend has it (per Los Angeles Times) that Hardee had bet and lost 51% of his shares of the new Hardee's stock on a hand of poker. He thereby relinquished majority control over the company he had built, per PokerNews.

Hardee's fate may have been in the cards, but he also recalls a much more nefarious version of the story involving deceit and betrayal. In his 2000 self-published tell-all book, Hardee claims he had been swindled by Rawls and Gardner. In this version, the two treated Hardee to a steak dinner, liquored him up, and brought him to a lawyer's office where they pulled the "old switcheroo." While Hardee was pressed into dealing with what he thought were "routine legal matters," he actually inadvertently signed away legal permission to his partners to sell franchises without his involvement. 

This is one of many versions of how Hardee claims to have lost his company. In a conversation with journalist Jerry Bledsoe of Our State, he confided that when Hardee's incorporated in 1963, they were equal owners with equal shares of the company, allowing Rawls and Gardner to outvote Hardee two-to-one on all company decisions.

After the poker game, feelings between the partners soured and Hardee sold his remaining stock shares, his restaurant, and his namesake for $20,000. He also revealed in the Our State interview that he was ready to cash his chips in. "I was stupid. That's what I was. You know how it is — you make mistakes," he said.

Rawls and Gardner proceeded to franchise the business, bought out two other chains, and erased Wilber from Hardee's narrative. Through the years the company saw major success, and by 1984, Jerry Bledsoe reports that Hardee's held the number four spot for largest restaurant chains in America. Over the course of his life, Hardee also saw some success for a time with the launch of 85 different restaurants across the Southeast (via Los Angeles Times). Our State reports that among those was a restaurant chain called Little Mint, with 50 locations found across the Carolinas. Little Mint saw so much success, it eventually went public and Hardee's stock was worth almost $2 million.

Before his death in 2008, Hardee was able to reconcile with Jim Gardner. For Hardee's 40th anniversary, the company honored Wilber Hardee as the chain's original founder, and the company's biggest franchise award was named for him.