Why Won't SW Minneapolis Get A Hardee's?

With a big range of dining options formal and informal around the neighborhood, many Southwest Minneapolis residents may not be all that broken up by Hardee's decision to skip over their patch of ground when plotting their Twin Cities expansion.

But, given the popularity of said local options and the little business nodes that host them, a look at the criteria Hardee's used to pick the locations for its next 59 Twin Cities locations might make some glad the area never got a second glance.

According to CityPages, The new locations are being planned for

"hot spots," in the words of Jim Sullivan, a head of franchise development for Hardee's parent company CKE Restaurants. They map the prime areas where high traffic counts, populations in the 40,000 range, good site visibility, and drive-thru access intersect.

Think "Lake/35W intersection" or "the meeting of Highway 7 and 394"—more or less the exact opposite of this area's walkable business nodes. Even the busiest parts of Nicollet and Lyndale Avenues weren't busy or car-driven enough for the company. 

Looks like Southwest Minneapolis will be stuck with burgers from places like and for the time being. What a shame.