Durham Hardee’s Biscuit Maker Wins Top Award

Shirley Jones Named Biscuit Maker Champion for an Unprecedented Third Time

DURHAM, N.C. (April 4, 2013) – If the breakfast biscuits baked at the Hardee’s® restaurant at 3912 N. Duke Street seem especially delicious, that’s because they are made by a three-time Biscuit Maker Champion.

Biscuit maker Shirley Jones was named the 2013 Best Biscuit Maker of Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchise operator in the country. Jones advanced beyond more than 800 other biscuit makers at 334 Hardee’s restaurants to win the overall award for the second year in a row and the third time since the competition began 30 years ago.

Jones also won the award in 2009 and 2012. She is the only Biscuit Maker to win the award three times.

Contestants in Boddie-Noell’s annual Biscuit Maker Challenge represented Hardee’s restaurants across North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Kentucky. In addition to Jones, the three best biscuit maker regional winners were Hillary Basinger of the Hardee’s at Carolina Beach, Elijah Hoff of the Timberville, Va. location and Medora Vicars of Lexington, Va.

“I can’t believe I won again,” said a clearly stunned Jones when her name was announced. “This is truly an honor. I’ve worked hard on perfecting the procedures over the years and it feels great.”
Jones and the three other regional winners will be featured later this year on the in-store tray liners at all Hardee’s restaurants operated by Boddie-Noell.

Boddie-Noell honored the four regional winners and announced Jones as the overall winner during a banquet at the company’s Rose Hill Plantation near Nashville.

The competition started in November, and each biscuit maker was evaluated based on the quality of his or her biscuits, knowledge of proper biscuit equipment, cleanliness and care of the biscuit equipment, knowledge and execution of company procedures, grooming and appearance. The competition’s judges included general managers, district managers, regional directors, vice presidents and other executives in the restaurant division of Boddie-Noell.

Jones, who lives near Rougemont in Person County, has worked as a biscuit maker at Hardee’s for 16 years.

Jones says the key to creating the best Hardee’s Made from Scratch™ Biscuit begins with “taking pride in what you do.” After that, being consistent and “following procedures every day” is key. Jones also noted she has been baking biscuits her whole life.

“We have some amazing biscuit makers in our company, but Shirley is always one of the best,” said Terry Lewis, Boddie-Noell’s vice president of operations for Hardee’s and host of the Biscuit Maker Banquet. “It’s so great to see her standing up here again this year.”

Aside from making biscuits, Jones enjoys singing in the choir at church and gardening with her husband. She is also an avid collector of shoes and jewelry who loves to cook. She is currently helping to plan her daughter’s wedding in August.

Hardee’s Made from Scratch™ biscuits, which have been served at Boddie-Noell restaurants since 1977, are a vital part of the restaurant’s menu.

In 2012, Hardee’s restaurants owned and operated by Boddie-Noell used 10.3 million pounds of flour and biscuit mix and 830,000 gallons of buttermilk to make the golden brown biscuits – enough flour, mix and buttermilk to fill over 425 tractor-trailers.


About Boddie-Noell Enterprises
With over 50 years success as a Hardee’s franchisee, family-owned Boddie-Noell is the largest Hardee’s franchise operator in the United States with 334 restaurant locations in four states. The company is based in Rocky Mount, N.C. For more information, visit www.bneinc.com.