The Odd Reason Hardee's Is Mocking MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell
Until this week, fast food chain Hardee's was known as the Carl's Jr sister company because it was acquired by Carl's Jr parent CKE Restaurants in 1997 (per Mental Floss). And while Hardee's and Carl's Jr operate in different parts of the country — the former operates in the Midwest and Southeast, while the latter is popular in the West Coast and Southwest — Mental Floss says Hardees has had something of an identity crisis, since both restaurant chains have the same logo and serve the same charbroiled Thickburgers and biscuits.
But something happened this week that might finally help Hardee's emerge as a smiley star in its own right — and that happened with the help of My Pillow CEO and public figure Mike Lindell.
Lindell was at Hardee's in Mankato, Minnesota to pick up a mushroom swiss cheeseburger and chocolate shake after a hunting trip, per Independent, when all of a sudden, he said, "Cars pulled up in front of us, to the side of us, and behind us and I said those are either bad guys or the FBI. Well, it turns out they were the FBI" ... and they appeared to be after his cell phone.
Mike Lindell shares the Hardee's ordeal on social media
The incident, which Lindell later shared on social media, reveals that the FBI had a warrant looking for information "relating to identity theft, intentional damage to a protected computer, and conspiracy to commit the previous two crimes," (per The Daily Beast). The warrant was issued in relation to an investigation into "breached voting machines in Colorado."
Lindell later confirmed to The Daily Beast that the FBI did in fact, take his phone. He took to Instagram about the ordeal, saying: "They surrounded me in a Hardee's and took my phone that I run all my business, everything with. What they've done is weaponize—the FBI, it's disgusting. I don't have a computer. Everything I do [is] off that phone. Everything was on there. And they told me not to tell anybody. Here's an order: 'Don't tell anybody!' 'OK, I won't!' Well, I am.
Lindell posted to Instagram multiple times about the incident and even inserted the Hardee's biscuits tweet for a little humor and savings.
Hardee's ran with its five minutes of fame
Because there is no such thing as bad publicity, it would have been a pity if Hardee's didn't run with its five minutes of fame, but lucky for us, it did. After one Twitter user urged the chain to "have an FBI promo – a Free Biscuit Invitation. Show your phone for a free biscuit," Hardee's gamely responded by tweeting, "If you still have a phone, get a free breakfast biscuit in our app for My Rewards members."
And in case its social media followers didn't get the message the first time, Hardee's came back with a second tweet, "Now that you know we exist... you should really try our pillowy biscuits."
That was probably the only invitation Twitter needed to get in on the act, which it did, with 17,000 retweets and over 5,000 comments. "Well played, Hardee's. Well played," replied one user, while another took a photo of her Hardee's take-out bag, saying "Oh look! I've got Hardee's & still had my phone to take a picture of it with."
As for Lindell himself, when Insider told the businessman what Hardee's had done, he said "Funny!" and even posted Hardee's tweet to Instagram using it to his own advantage. The caption reads "To celebrate use promo code HARDEES at MyPillow.com for GREAT SAVINGS!"