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'''Jack Laughery''' (February 25, 1935 in [[Guthrie Center, Iowa]] – August 20, 2006 in [[Jackson, Wyoming]]) was an American restaurant investor and consultant, the former [[CEO]] and [[chairman]] of the [[Hardee's]] restaurant chain.

In 1961 Jack Laughery left his successful insurance practice to join the [[Sandy's]] restaurant chain.  In 1967 he was appointed president of Sandy's by the founder of the company, [[Gust E. Lundberg|Gust E. "Brick" Lundberg]]. In 1971 Sandy's merged with Hardee's (a chain begun by Laughery's friend Leonard Rawls).  Laughery was named executive vice president of operations of the new expanded Hardee's Food Systems Inc. A year later he was appointed president and chief operating officer, and in 1975 he was named [[CEO]]. Under Laughery's leadership, Hardee's introduced the "Big Twin" sandwich, Made-From-Scratch biscuits, the highly successful [[California Raisins]] promotion, and acquired the [[Burger Chef]] chain. Laughery expanded the company's presence from 750 restaurants to 3,300 restaurants in 42 states and nine countries, and when he stepped down as CEO in 1990, Hardee's sales of $4.1 billion made it the third largest QSR hamburger chain in the world.

From 1990 until his retirement in 1994, Mr. Laughery remained Chairman of Hardee's and a board member of [[Imasco Ltd.]], Hardee's parent company at the time. In 1993 he was made a Director of [[Papa John's Pizza|Papa John's International]] in [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]].  Mr. Laughery also served on the boards of directors of several investment corporations.

Two scholarships were set up in Laughery's name: '''The Jack Laughery Scholarship Fund''' through the '''National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation''' in [[Chicago]] and '''The Helen and Jack Laughery Honorary Scholarship Endowment''' at [[Nash Community College]] in [[Rocky Mount, North Carolina]].

:The downfall of any company has rarely, if ever, been the result of a lack of financial resources...Downfall has occurred when there has been an inability to coordinate a group of motivated people and a reluctance to give them long enough tethers to innovate and take risks in the development of products and services. -- Jack Laughery, 19 Oct 1987 [http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3190/is_n43_v21/ai_6064761]

==References==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20110608045548/http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17094023&BRD=2020&PAG=461&dept_id=231738&rfi=8 Obituary of Jack Laughery]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laughery, Jack}}
[[Category:1935 births]]
[[Category:2006 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Deaths from lung cancer in the United States]]
[[Category:People from Guthrie Center, Iowa]]