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. "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.