May Hardees charge a fee for reviewing a proposed Hardees supplier or distributor?
Hardees Franchise · 2025 FDDAnswer from 2025 FDD Document
quired to lease a location from us or an affiliate, we must consent to your selection of the site for your Hardee's Restaurant. If you lease the Restaurant premises from a third party landlord, you must sign the Franchise Lease Addendum attached as Appendix G to the Franchise Agreement.
Approval of a supplier or a distributor may be conditioned on requirements relating to the frequency of delivery, reporting capabilities, standards of service, including prompt attention to complaints, sanitation standards, insurance and other quality assurance requirements or other criteria, and concentration of purchases, as set forth above, and it may be temporary pending a further evaluation of the supplier by us. A fee not to exceed our actual costs of reviewing the supplier or distributor and auditing the supplier's facility, if needed, may be charged by us and must be paid by you. We may establish commissaries and distribution facilities owned and operated by us or an affiliate that we will designate as an approved supplier.
One or more of our officers may own nominal interests in certain of our approved suppliers which are publicly traded companies or through investment funds.
We and our affiliates may receive fees, payments, commissions, field-of-use license royalties or other consideration from approved suppliers based on sales to franchisees, from promotional allowances and volume discounts. We and our affiliates may use all amounts received from approved suppliers, distributors or third parties, whether or not based on your and/or other franchisees' actual or prospective dealings with them, without restriction for any purposes we or our affiliates deem appropriate. Finally, we and our affiliates provide supply chain, quality assurance, distribution and logistics services for the franchise system. These services include negotiating with suppliers and distributors who will sell and
distribute goods to our franchisees, designating one or more distributors to service our franchisees, and managing distribution logistics. As a result, we and our affiliates reserve the right to recover our costs related to performing these services by collecting a per-case distribution fee for all cases sold by an approved supplier to our franchisees and from other logistics-related programs.
We may charge non-approved suppliers reasonable testing and/or inspection fees.
Source: Item 8 — Restrictions on Sources of Products and Services (FDD pages 39–42)
What This Means (2025 FDD)
According to Hardees's 2025 Franchise Disclosure Document, Hardees may charge franchisees fees related to supplier or distributor approval. Specifically, if a franchisee proposes a new supplier, Hardees may charge a fee to cover the costs of reviewing and auditing that supplier's facility. This fee will not exceed Hardees's actual costs.
Furthermore, Hardees may charge non-approved suppliers reasonable testing and/or inspection fees. If a franchisee wants to purchase goods from a supplier not already approved, the franchisee must submit the required information, specifications, and samples for testing, at the franchisee's expense. Hardees, or an independent testing laboratory, may charge a fee to cover the inspection and testing costs, which the franchisee must pay. Hardees will then notify the franchisee of their decision within 60 days.
If Hardees tentatively approves an alternative supplier, the franchisee must submit a $1,500 deposit to cover the costs of inspecting the supplier's facility. The franchisee is responsible for any additional costs associated with the inspection, which must occur before final approval. Hardees may also require periodic re-testing of approved suppliers at the franchisee's expense to ensure continued compliance with specifications. These measures ensure that all suppliers meet Hardees's standards, but franchisees need to be aware of these potential costs when suggesting new suppliers.