At Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr., the difference between a ho-hum meal and a smashing success reflects the magic that is pork.

Consider the new pork loin chop with sausage gravy, which Hardee’s debuted in mid-February. This hearty, 3.4-ounce breaded, boneless chop on a house-made buttermilk biscuit sells for $2.99 and will featured through mid-July.

“A pork loin chop with gravy is a unique concept for a quick-serve restaurant (QSR),” says Stephen Gerike, director of food service marketing for the Pork Checkoff. “Breakfast is the fastest growing day part in foodservice, and we have been working hard to promote loin meat to QSRs to help increase value.”

Bringing back a favorite
The Pork Checkoff also worked on the development of the new pork loin chop and is supporting the rollout out at Hardee’s.

“We helped develop this menu item about five years ago, and the chains ran it as a limited-time offer (LTO),” Gerike says. “Now they make their biscuits in house and wanted to bring the pork loin chop back as an LTO on their new biscuit.”

This has the potential to drive pork demand, since Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr. operate more than 2,800 restaurants in the United States. It’s also a plus that these chains are able to make decisions about their menu quickly, says Gerike, who notes that they have a strong foothold on the breakfast day part.

Building on pork’s momentum
The 2013 pork loin chop promotion follows the success of Hardee’s and Carl’s Jr.’s popular Bacon Bacon Biscuit with Canadian-style bacon and crispy smoked bacon, which ran from July through November of 2012, when the Bacon Bacon Biscuit was added to the permanent menu.