Jump to content

Bojangles (restaurant)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 207.69.140.24 (talk) at 19:48, 1 August 2009 (→Operations). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits
IndustryFood
HeadquartersCharlotte, North Carolina
Key people
Jack Fulk, Richard Thomas (Founders), Randy Kibler (CEO)
ProductsFast food, including fried chicken, biscuits and Cajun fixins
Websitehttp://www.bojangles.com

Bojangles' Famous Chicken 'n Biscuits is a regional chain of fast food restaurants based in Charlotte, North Carolina, specializing in spicy, "Cajun" fried chicken and buttermilk biscuits. The restaurants, named for the song written by Jerry Jeff Walker, are also known for their distinctive side dishes (called "fixins") including dirty rice, Cajun Pintos and Cajun seasoned french fries.

Founded in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1977 by Jack Fulk and Richard Thomas, Bojangles' grew rapidly to over 200 locations by 1984, only to see its growth rate slow in the early 1990s. The company grew substantially in recent years to over 400 locations [1] in 11 states, mostly in the American South (North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Tennessee, Virginia) and the Mid-Atlantic States of Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey and New York. There are also international Bojangles' locations in Mexico and Honduras[2]. The Wall Street Journal in 2008 ranked Bojangles' as one of the "25 High-Performing Franchises."[3] As of February 2008, Bojangles has 439 locations and is growing at a rate of about one new restaurant a week.[4][5]


History

Jack Fulk sold the Bojangles' concept to the now defunct New York company, The Horn & Hardart Company[6], in 1981. Horn and Hardart had pioneered "fast food"[7] in another era with the use of coin operated automats, the last of which was located on 42nd Street in New York City and was closed in 1991. Horn and Hardart was a publicly held company and raised large amounts of capital for expansion of the Bojangles' chain.

During the time of Horn and Hardart's ownership the chain grew rapidly and expanded to 457 restaurants including 123 restaurants in Florida. Part of this growth was fueled by acquisitions including the Florida based Biskits chain. The conversion of the Biskits restaurants was unsuccessful and saddled the company with a large amount of new debt. Several events brought about a modicum of stability in the late 1980s even while many of the company's largest markets were closed. When Hurricane Hugo struck the Carolinas, the company was able to open many of its restaurants while electricity remained off for more than a week in many areas. The massive amount of business sparked a turn-around in the company's sales that continued for many years. The company was stabilized under the leadership of CEO John Bifone, and a settlement was reached with the franchise association which had threatened the company.

In 1990, Horn and Hardart sold most of its interest to Sienna Partners and Interwest Partners, which were managed by a group of young California venture capitalists based in Silicon Valley. The company was then headed by former KFC executive, Dick Campbell. After modest investment in facilities, training and operations, the company began a slow and steady improvement that lasted throughout most of the 1990s. In 1994 the company attempted a public offering which collapsed before completion based upon a "softening" of the performance and over-expansion of company units and franchisee acquisitions. Dick Campbell was replaced by CEO Jim Peterson. Again the company stabilized and improved its performance, eventually selling to a group of investors headed by former Wendy's executive Joe Drury [8]and financed by FMAC in 1998.

Bojangles' was purchased one more time in 2007 by Falfurrias Capital Partners[9], a private equity firm. The investment group includes Hugh L. McColl Jr., founder and chairman of Falfurrias Capital Partners and former chairman and chief executive of Bank of America, and Jerry Richardson, founder and president of the NFL Carolina Panthers.

Quick serve restaurant veteran Randy Kibler was named CEO of the company in 2007[10]. Kibler started his career in 1970 at a Spartan Foods-owned Hardee’s location in Columbia, S.C. Working his way up the ranks, Kibler later worked at Flagstar Cos. Inc., where he served as senior vice president and then president and chief operating officer of the 600-restaurant Hardee’s division, as well as president and chief operating officer of Quincy’s Family Steakhouse and vice president of the western division of Denny’s. Starting 2002, Kibler was a partner in companies that served as developers and area representatives for Firehouse Restaurant Group Inc., the franchisor of Firehouse Subs. Kibler has focused on Bojangles' Cajun spiced chicken, buttermilk biscuits and iced tea menu items. The largest Bojangles in the U.S is in Lincolnton, North Carolina

Bojangles' menu is centered around Cajun fried chicken and made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits, served up with sweet tea. At breakfast, biscuits include Cajun filet, country ham, steak, sausage, and bacon, egg and cheese.[11] At lunch they offer a Cajun filet sandwich and grilled chicken sandwich, along with bone-in Cajun fried chicken breast, legs and thighs served with fixin's such as dirty rice, Cajun pintos, green beans, mashed potatoes and seasoned fries.[12] Tailgate boxes come in family and party sizes.

Operations

Because Bojangles’ stresses its breakfast offering, the chain tells prospective franchise owners that it literally does 40 percent of its daily average business volume before its primary competitors have opened their doors.[13]

Bojangles’ has a number of programs designed to improve operations at the restaurant level. The chain’s ShowBo Awards is an annual competition for both company and franchise owned locations to measure each restaurant on dozens of performance criteria, ranging from the cleanliness of the parking lots to the speed and accuracy of drive through windows. The competition includes multiple visits to each competing location over several months.

The annual Bojangles’ Master Biscuit Maker Challenge[14] is a serious competition to find the best biscuit maker across the chain. Contestants are evaluated on a variety of preparation steps, including technique, as well as consistency, color, size and texture of their finished biscuits. The biscuit maker position at each Bojangles’ is a critical position since the chain estimates that it serves more than 500,000 made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuits on a daily basis.

A new event is the annual Bojangles'Chicken Breader contest-were in store chicken crewpersons hone their skills and compete to be included in a multi store contest.Contestants are evaluated on a variety of preparation steps, including technique,speed, as well as consistency, color, size and texture of their finished product

Marketing

Bojangles’ has some of the most loyal customers in the quick serve restaurant category[15]. The company credits the “crave factor” around its flavorful menu items for generating regular repeat business. The restaurant’s current advertising campaign is based on the GottaWannaNeedaGettaHava theme that expresses the cravings Bojangles’ customers have[16]. The campaign, including television advertising featuring Carolina Panthers football stars Jake Delhomme[17] and Steve Smith[18], music legend Charlie Daniels[19], NASCAR champion Jeff Gordon[20] and a number of other regional celebrities, continues to evolve, often using parodies of popular culture, including television shows, movies and music. The campaign has won several awards for creativity and effectiveness.

Bojangles’ is active in supporting a variety of causes in the communities where it does business. In addition to charitable activities, the chain is also a sponsor of the Carolina Panthers of the NFL, Charlotte Bobcats of the NBA, NASCAR racing at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, University of North Carolina basketball and other sports and entertainment properties. In 2008 the company announced it had reached a deal to rename Cricket Arena, which is the original Charlotte Coliseum, that opened in 1955, to become Bojangles’ Coliseum[21].

References

  1. ^ "Bojangles' Celebrates 400th Restaurant", "Restaurant News", Feb 14, 2008
  2. ^ "Bojangles'and Franchisee FDY, Inc. Celebrates Grand Opening At Charlotte Douglas International Airport", "Reuters", Apr 18, 2008
  3. ^ http://www.banfield.net/upload/high-performance-franchises.pdf
  4. ^ http://www.chainleader.com/article/CA6659437.html?industryid=47553
  5. ^ http://www.greenvilleonline.com/article/20090203/BUSINESS/902030344/1004/NEWS01
  6. ^ http://www.newyorker.com/archive/1982/10/04/1982_10_04_036_TNY_CARDS_000337269
  7. ^ "Frank Hardart, Sr", "Ancestry", Feb 15 2005
  8. ^ "Chicken Franchise Spreads Its Wings", "Greater Charlotte Biz", September, 2005
  9. ^ "Bojangles' Acquired", "QSR Magazine", Sept. 13, 2007
  10. ^ http://www.charlotteobserver.com/176/story/153229.html
  11. ^ http://www.murfreesboropost.com/news.php?viewStory=15497
  12. ^ http://www.chainleader.com/article/CA6659437.html?industryid=47553
  13. ^ http://www.al.com/business/birminghamnews/news.ssf?/base/business/1233911703228540.xml&coll=2
  14. ^ https://www.accessnorthga.com/detail.php?n=214089
  15. ^ http://www.qsrmagazine.com/resources/franchise-expo/2008profiles/bojangles.phtml
  16. ^ http://charlotte.bizjournals.com/charlotte/stories/2007/09/10/daily30.html
  17. ^ http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0DE5D91131F936A3575AC0A9629C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
  18. ^ http://www.wsoctv.com/nfl089/15878335/detail.html
  19. ^ http://www.cpcc.edu/spark/archives/filming-a-commercial-isn-t-so-glamorous
  20. ^ http://www.mufso.com/pdf/EAT&EAR%20Awards.pdf
  21. ^ http://www.qsrmagazine.com/articles/news/story.phtml?id=7637
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/enwiki/w/index.php?title=Bojangles_(restaurant)&oldid=305508808"