How Much Food Cost At Hardee's In 1960 (Can We Get A Time Machine, Please?)

In 1960, you get a decent brand-new car for under $2,000 and a house cost around $12,000. A dozen eggs was an average of 38 cents; a gallon of milk was somewhere around 36 cents. And a Hardee's hamburger was just 15 cents — 20, if you wanted to splurge on cheese. In fact, back then, an entire meal, complete with a cheeseburger, an apple turnover, and a Coca-Cola, as Hardee's advertised, was just 30 cents. Want fries with that? Throw some in for only 15 cents.

We all know things cost much more these days. Gone are the days of penny candy. Heck, gone are the days of pennies. Burger-flation is for real – consider that Burger King's sandwiches today can cost over a Whopper-ing $10, depending on customizations. A Hardee's basic cheeseburger will now set you back around 5 bucks. Based on your location and order, prices go up from there — sometimes way
up. 

Between 1960 and 2026, the price of a Hardee's cheeseburger went up 2400%. For what you'll pay for just one classic Big Cheeseburger now, you could have gotten 25 cheeseburgers back in the day.

Wilber Hardee opened the first Hardee's restaurant on September 3, 1960, in Greenville, North Carolina. The restaurant was an instant success, leading to the opening of a second Hardee's locale in less than a year — and over 1,800 locations in the U.S. today. The chain quickly became a heavy hitter in the burger game, giving bigwigs Wendy's and Burger King a run for their money.

From its early days until now, Hardee's has come a long way. For starters, it's really beefed up its burger selections since the days of the 15-cent special. A menu that used to consist of nothing more than hamburgers, cheeseburgers, shakes, fries, apple turnovers, soft drinks, coffee, and "dairy fresh" milk now offers elaborate concoctions such as the Prime Rib Burger, Mushroom & Swiss Burger, and the Frisco Burger, which comes with bacon, Swiss cheese, tomato, and mayo on sourdough. It has also branched out into chicken, both tenders and filets, as well as kids' menus and hot ham 'n' cheese sandwiches. The drinks have gotten all fancy and trendy too — now you can get a Mocha Coffee Freeze or a Triple Berry Sparkler. The beef is Angusand the applesauce is organic.

Despite all the modernizations and price hikes, some things never change: You can still get a good deal on an apple turnover (while no longer 15 cents, today's $1.49 price tag doesn't hurt too much). Also, Hardee's was charbroiling its burgers then, and it's still charbroiling them now — proof that they do still make things like they used to. They just sometimes charge you 2,400% more for them.