What Would Carl Do? Probably Not This.

Carl Karcher ought to be stewing right about now. His namesake CKE Restaurants (for Carl Karcher Enterprises) has gotten into bed with the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

CKE said that its Hardee's and Carl's Jr. fast-food chains will begin buying eggs and pork from suppliers who do not keep animals in cages or crates.

Sounds okay so far, right? Probably not if you're old man Karcher, the company's right-wing founder and historically strong supporter of anti-gay and anti-abortion initiatives. He is likely to be less than pleased about CKE's newfound association with one of the left's most vociferous interest groups.

There's not much he can do about it, though, as the 90-year-old Karcher is no longer professionally affiliated with the restaurant chain he built from a single hot-dog stand.

Karcher was forced out of his position as chairman of CKE's board in 1993 when he threatened to start a proxy fight to depose directors after they failed to see eye to eye on business strategy.

The founder moved into the largely ceremonial role of chairman emeritus until June 2004, at which he finally stepped down from that position and ended all involvement with CKE.

As chance would have it, 2004 was also the year when CKE and PETA first began talks, according Matt Prescott, assistant director of PETA.

While perhaps inconsistent with the founder's own political agenda, the move makes sense for CKE from a from a strategy perspective. Burger King announced similar changes in March, and Carl's Jr. and Hardees are now grabbing a nice chunk of P.R. by becoming the second major fast-food restaurant company this year to begin moving toward cage-free chickens and pigs.

In other word's: Irritating the company's estranged founder is just a fortuitous side-effect.

In addition to CKE's agreements regarding cage and crate-free animals, the company has also agreed to give consideration to poultry suppliers that slaughter chickens using the most humane techniques.

The agreement aims to improve the welfare of animals that provide food for the 1,905 Hardee's restaurants and 1,101 Carl's Jr. restaurants.

by Liz Gunnison