CARL'S JR./HARDEE'S let TWITCH streamers and fans collaboratively create a new menu item

It’s not necessarily true that too many chefs in the kitchen is problematic, as Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s proved when the two CKE brands brought together their veep of global culinary innovation with a popular Twitch streamer and a sizable number of fans to interactively brainstorm a new item for the restaurants’ menus. First, the fans voted on the ingredients they wanted to see included in the prospective palate-pleaser. Then, during the Aug. 22 livestream, the hosts and the fans discussed the top vote-getting ingredients and the different ways each could be used to create new and exciting taste sensations. 

From this conversation emerged four candidate menu items. Six other Twitch streamers picked by CKE have since then been taste-testing the four items and talking about them to their own fans. The taste-testers’ fans will eventually vote to determine which of the four candidates becomes an actual menu item available for a limited time at select Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s locations. The winner will be unveiled during the week of Oct. 24 by the fans themselves after working together to decode clues presented in the course of an interactive game on Twitch.