Hardee's

When I got home from RAGBRAI last weekend, I spent quite a bit of time skimming through the week's newspapers that had accumulated in the house. Upon reading the paper, I learned that the first Hardee's restaurant that I ever worked at, at 324 Edgewood Road NW in Cedar Rapids, had closed. I first worked at that Hardee's in the summer of 1990. Had my family not moved to Waterloo at the end of the summer, I likely would have kept working there during the school year. Instead, I continued to work there each summer through 1995 as I lived with friends in Cedar Rapids. I had eaten lunch at this Hardee's a few times in the past couple of years since returning to Cedar Rapids, and it never seemed to be too busy. I guess that's why it is no longer open.

The second Hardee's I worked at was the one by Crossroads Mall in Waterloo. I only worked there for about a month in 1991. I started working there toward the end of my senior year of high school. Once I graduated, I moved into a friend's house in Cedar Rapids for the summer, as I indicated above, so that ended my employment at this particular Hardee's location. Several years ago, this Waterloo Hardee's closed. The building was vacant for a while before it became a Chinese buffet. That restaurant closed a few years back. The building has since been torn down.

The third Hardee's restaurant I worked at was located in the Plaza Centre One building in the Pedestrian Mall in downtown Iowa City. I worked there while I was a student at the University of Iowa during the 1991-1992 school year. This location has also closed. I do not have a photo of this location to share.

The last Hardee's location that I worked at was in Maucker Union on the University of Northern Iowa campus in Cedar Falls. I worked there much of the time I was a student at UNI, working there off and on from 1992 through 1997. I also worked there a couple of summers between different teaching jobs after I graduated from UNI. A lot of people really hated working at that Hardee's, and I admit that from time to time, I didn't care for it. In fact, I did quit my job there a time or two, but I kept going back.

Besides carrying the regular Hardee's menu, the UNI Hardee's also had a side restaurant, named the Hardee's Panther Deli, which sold mostly cold sandwiches, as well as a few other things such as soup, chips, and nachos. The deli was a fun place to work, especially in the evenings on weekends. It often wasn't too busy there, so I was able to get some reading done for classes I was taking. On the weekends, the deli had more of a laid back atmosphere. Also, for a while, movies were shown on Friday nights (it may have been Saturday, I don't remember for sure). Depending on where the movie screen was set up, it was sometimes possible to view the movies while working.

The Hardee's location on the UNI campus also closed several years ago, just prior to a remodeling of Maucker Union. I haven't really had a chance to check out Maucker Union since its remodeling as it's usually been closed in the cases that I have been on campus.

Now, with the closing of the Edgewood Road Hardee's, every Hardee's restaurant that I have worked at is now closed. I guess they just couldn't survive without me.