dweedle All American 77386 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Bojangles' co-founder Jack Fulk dies at 78
Jack Fulk liked his chicken spicy, and he was a fanatic for made-from-scratch biscuits.
In 1977, he took those traits and used them to co-found Bojangles' on West Boulevard in Charlotte. Even after the company was sold and he retired, Fulk's family stayed involved as major franchisees, and he continued to run a franchise himself.
Fulk, 78, of Charlotte, died Wednesday. He had been ill.
"He was always very driven, always working, even before he got into business for himself," said Fulk's daughter, Donna Haddock. "He was a perfectionist when he came to the food part. He was absolutely fanatical about the biscuits."
As Fulk put it in a 2007 interview with the Observer: "Good food, that's all you need. People like it, and they come back and back and back."
Fulk lived and worked in Winston-Salem before he moved to Wilkesboro and opened his first Hardee's franchise in 1971.
While running the Hardee's, Fulk developed a recipe for made-from-scratch biscuits. A few years later, he and business partner Richard Thomas saw an opportunity to open a chicken restaurant at West Boulevard and South Tryon Street. That first store was a walk-in location with no seating.
Fulk sold his Hardee's franchise and got to work developing his new restaurant.
"Daddy worked really hard on the Cajun-spiced chicken," recalled Haddock. "It's a lot milder now than when he started out."
And, of course, the biscuits were central. Adding them to the mix initially lifted sales by 60 percent. Fulk would joke that the chain's slogan should have been "Famous Biscuits n' Chicken," instead of the other way around.
Randy Kibler, Bojangles' president and CEO, said Fulk really understood customers, and was central to developing the signature Cajun flavorings.
"He was personally responsible for developing the products, flavor profiles as well as the creation and presentation of the Bojangles' brand," Kibler said.
The restaurant caught on, and they opened a new location the next year. The chain grew to more than 350 locations by the time Fulk retired in 1985.
Fulk's family got involved, and his daughter and her husband now run a string of Bojangles' from Virginia to the Raleigh-Durham area. His grandson is a Bojangles' franchise owner in Alabama.
"We just can't seem to get away from chicken and biscuits," Haddock said Friday.
Even after retiring from the company, Fulk ran a Bojangles' franchise in Jonesville, near Winston-Salem, Haddock said.
Bojangles' Executive Vice President Eric Newman said Fulk's biscuit style is now imitated at restaurants around the country. When he's noticed competitors' products from Maine to California, "I've thought about Jack, and the impact he's had on the national cuisine," said Newman.
Bojangles' is still expanding, with about 500 locations, including a new one in Washington, D.C.
Kibler put it simply: "There would not be a Bojangles' if there hadn't been a Jack Fulk." " |
would a good night sweet prince be the hulk?4/2/2011 10:29:04 AM |
Joie begonias is my boo 22491 Posts user info edit post |
4/2/2011 10:31:06 AM |
dweedle All American 77386 Posts user info edit post |
they should have kept it as spicy as he wanted it 4/2/2011 10:34:48 AM |
TenaciousC All American 6307 Posts user info edit post |
I might have to get some BoJo's in his honor today 4/2/2011 10:35:46 AM |
DeltaBeta All American 9417 Posts user info edit post |
The Bo-Spice finally got him. 4/2/2011 10:36:26 AM |
ClassicMixup All American 3877 Posts user info edit post |
Today we are all 4 piece supremes 4/2/2011 10:48:34 AM |
tommy wiseau All American 2624 Posts user info edit post |
now I want Bojangles 4/2/2011 10:57:36 AM |
Kickstand All American 11590 Posts user info edit post |
For breakfast I had an egg and cheese biscuit combo.
R.I.P.
4/2/2011 11:09:44 AM |
TerdFerguson All American 6600 Posts user info edit post |
what a legend 4/2/2011 11:45:25 AM |
Talage All American 5092 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "they should have kept it as spicy as he wanted it" |
Amen, brotha. I hate that restaurants sell out to cater to the tastes of weak tongued northerner's/mid-westerners.4/2/2011 11:56:27 AM |
Doc Rambo IV All American 7202 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Today we are all 4 piece supremes" |
4/2/2011 11:58:40 AM |
elkaybie All American 39626 Posts user info edit post |
Aww
Quote : | "Today we are all 4 piece supremes" |
4/2/2011 12:02:22 PM |
AndyMac All American 31922 Posts user info edit post |
Fulkin' A
Quote : | "now I want Bojangles" |
But my town doesn't have Bojangles
[Edited on April 2, 2011 at 12:17 PM. Reason : ]4/2/2011 12:17:20 PM |
A Tanzarian drip drip boom 10995 Posts user info edit post |
4/2/2011 12:18:40 PM |
ThePeter TWW CHAMPION 37709 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "While running the Hardee's, Fulk developed a recipe for made-from-scratch biscuits. " |
Wouldn't that make the recipe property of Hardees?
Also, RIP I'll have to get a 4 piece supreme in rememberance4/2/2011 12:35:37 PM |
PirateARRRny All American 1260 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | ""Today we are all 4 piece supremes"" |
4/2/2011 12:35:55 PM |
AndyMac All American 31922 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Wouldn't that make the recipe property of Hardees?" |
How?4/2/2011 12:39:22 PM |
ThePeter TWW CHAMPION 37709 Posts user info edit post |
I'm thinking in terms of patent laws that I agreed to when I joined my company. If I get an invention, it belongs to the company because they provided the environment for coming up with the idea. My name is on it but the company owns the rights to it 4/2/2011 12:48:15 PM |
AndyMac All American 31922 Posts user info edit post |
I never signed one of those as an employee of hardees, I doubt the managers sign them either.
People working at the hardees test kitchen or whatever might have to, but who knows. 4/2/2011 12:58:49 PM |
Novicane All American 15416 Posts user info edit post |
Quote : | "Today we are all 4 piece supremes" |
4/2/2011 1:36:43 PM |
BettrOffDead All American 12559 Posts user info edit post |
has anyone photochopped a ribbon picture with the boj logo that we can all make our facebook profile picture? 4/2/2011 2:37:15 PM |
merbig Suspended 13178 Posts user info edit post |
I bought 4 peice supremes in his honor. 4/2/2011 2:38:48 PM |
BettrOffDead All American 12559 Posts user info edit post |
shitty job, but somethin like this
4/2/2011 2:43:37 PM |
kiljadn All American 44690 Posts user info edit post |
POUR OUT A LITTLE SWEET TEA 4/2/2011 3:03:01 PM |
BettrOffDead All American 12559 Posts user info edit post |
haha that was my status update 4/2/2011 3:09:19 PM |
dweedle All American 77386 Posts user info edit post |
4/2/2011 3:13:42 PM |