FAYETTEVILLE, NC--(Marketwire - January 19, 2011) - Hardee's® restaurants in North Carolina and several other surrounding states have raised nearly $95,000 for the Patriot Foundation (www.patriotscholarships.com) to support children of military families and provide college scholarships to children of fallen Fort Bragg, N.C. soldiers.
The funds were raised during a six-week period ending on Veterans Day (Nov. 11) in which Hardee's guests who made a donation received a coupon booklet good for free and discounted menu items. All proceeds from the coupon booklet went to the Patriot Foundation.
In North Carolina, more than 180 Hardee's restaurants participated in the promotion, contributing more than $40,000 to the total for the Patriot Foundation.
"We have a special place in our heart here in North Carolina for the military at Fort Bragg and Fayetteville, and I'm proud to see our Hardee's customers support the families of these soldiers who've sacrificed so much," said Bill Boddie, president and chief executive officer of North Carolina-based Boddie-Noell Enterprises, the largest Hardee's franchise operator both in the state and in the U.S. Boddie-Noell opened its first Hardee's location more than 48 years ago in Fayetteville.
The Patriot Foundation provides educational scholarships that support children of 82nd Airborne soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, killed and wounded soldiers of the 18th Airborne Corps, wounded soldiers of the Ft. Bragg Warrior Transition Battalion, as well as children of current, retired and former Army Special Operations soldiers. The Foundation has funded scholarships for more than 450 children of these soldiers since 2003.
"The Patriot Foundation is very grateful for the role that Hardee's restaurants play in helping us to support the families of soldiers at Ft. Bragg," said Chuck Deleot, chairman of the Patriot Foundation. "This collaboration is as successful as any we've had in our campaign to assist the magnificent men and women who are serving and dying to protect our freedoms."
About Boddie-Noell Enterprises
Boddie-Noell Enterprises (BNE) is a diversified family-owned business engaged primarily in restaurants and land development. Founded with a single Hardee's location in North Carolina more than 48 years ago, BNE today is the largest Hardee's franchise operator in the United States with 337 restaurants across four states. For more information about the company, visit www.bneinc.com
About Hardee's
Celebrating 50 years in the quick-service industry, Hardee's Food Systems is a wholly owned subsidiary of CKE Restaurants, Inc. of Carpinteria, Calif. As of the end of its third quarter of fiscal 2011, CKE, through its subsidiaries, had a total of 3,153 franchised, licensed or company-operated restaurants in 42 states and in 18 countries, including 1,245 Carl's Jr.® restaurants and 1,896 Hardee's® restaurants. For more information, or to find a Hardee's near you, go to www.hardees.com. Hardee's social media sites include www.facebook.com/hardees, www.twitter.com/hardees and www.youtube.com/hardees.
Contact Information:
Contact:
Patriot Foundation
Chuck Deleot
910.692.7878
Jenna Petroff
Hardee's
314.259.6277
jpetroff@ckr.com