2023 BNE Hardees Biscuit Making Champion

If the breakfast biscuits baked at the Hardee’s® restaurant at 2999 Main Highway taste delicious, that’s because they are made by a true Biscuit Maker Champion. Local Hardee’s biscuit maker Geraldine McCaskell was named as the 2023 Best Biscuit Maker of Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee’s franchise operator in the nation. McCaskell advanced beyond more than 700 other biscuit makers at 300 Hardee’s restaurants across four states owned by the company to win the overall award this month. Contestants in Boddie-Noell’s annual Biscuit Maker Challenge represented Hardee’s restaurants across North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina and Kentucky. In addition to McCaskell, the three best biscuit maker regional winners were Tony Robinson of Virginia Beach, Va., Shakiem Hermon of Hampton, Va. and Argelia Soarez of Roanoke, Va. The competition started in October, 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 at the five levels of competition. McCaskell says the key to creating the best Hardee’s Made from Scratch™ biscuit begins with “putting a lot of love in each biscuit.” Her favorite Hardee’s biscuit is a sausage biscuit. McCaskell has worked as a biscuit maker at Hardee’s for 12 years. She has been a regional winner in the company’s biscuit-baking competition twice before. The four regional winners compete each year for the overall best biscuit maker title. Boddie-Noell honored the four regional winners and announced McCaskell as overall winner during a banquet at the company’s Rose Hill Conference Center near Nashville, N.C. When she isn’t making biscuits, McCaskell enjoys going to church, watching “Top Chef” and spending time with her family. 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 2023, Hardee’s restaurants owned and operated by Boddie-Noell used more than 6,300,000 pounds of biscuit mix, 448,000 pounds of flour and 4,800,000 pounds of buttermilk to make the golden brown biscuits. About Boddie-Noell Enterprises Boddie-Noell is proud to have been a Hardee’s franchise operator for 62 years. Family-owned, Boddie-Noell is the largest Hardee’s franchisee in the United States with 328 restaurant locations in four states in 2024. The company is based in Rocky Mount, N.C. For more information, visit www.bneinc.com.