Biscuits are at the heart of Bojangles' menu and culture

At Bojangles' franchise convention held in September in Orlando, Florida, six of the top biscuit masters took center stage, competing in the chain’s Biscuit Maker Championship with the chance to win $6,000 in prize money.

“These are the best of the best, and it’s fun to celebrate them, but the whole point of the contest is to make sure we’re serving the best biscuits possible,” said Mike Morris, director of operations support and communications for Charlotte, North Carolina-based Bojangles. “We’ve been doing the contest for about 20 years, but never at a convention like this with this amount of ceremony and spotlight.”

Three “Roll-Offs” took place on the stage throughout the afternoon, with two master biscuit makers facing each other every hour — one representing a franchise operation and the other a company-owned restaurant.

Making a batch of Bojangles biscuits is a 49-step process, and once the dough is ready, the biscuits have to be rolled out, cut, and ready to bake in 7 minutes. Each contestant started with the same ingredients to make the exact same recipe used across the chain’s 890 locations across 24 states. That includes a large bag of self-rising flour mixed with little pieces of shortening and a “secret” seasoning, which gets blended with a pre-measured amount of buttermilk and “biscuit magic,” Bojangles’ signature leavening.

“At one point we used to measure out our own shortening, but now the biscuit makers start with what we call ‘the premade bag,’” said Morris.

The six Certified Biscuit Makers at the convention had advanced to the finals from a group of 16 area winners, earning an expense-paid trip to Walt Disney World plus the chance for big prize money. Many Bojangles locations are equipped with a “Biscuit Theater” viewing window so customers can watch as they work their magic with the dough. But competing on a national stage in front of hundreds of people intensified the pressure, especially with emcee and celeb chef Robert Irvine commenting throughout.

Nevertheless, the contestants seemed cool and confident as they stood in front of their worktables and waited for the roll-off to start, signaling when they could begin to mix dough, and roll, cut, and bake biscuits. They spent a good amount of time tossing, rubbing, and feeling the flour-shortening mix to assure it was aerated and the particles were small enough — around pea-size — to allow the dough to achieve the right consistency and texture once the buttermilk is added. Then it’s on to kneading the dough to lightly blend the wet and dry ingredients, then letting it rest before rolling and cutting out the biscuits. From the resting point on, speed is of the essence to hit the 7-minutes-or-under mark.

When the first batch emerged from the oven, the judges — who are either franchisees or area managers — got to work evaluating the biscuits. Kimberly Bradham, one of the judges on stage with the job title of “biscuit training manager,” said she checks for several benchmarks.

“The height of each biscuit should be 1½ inches and the width, 3½ inches,” she noted. She measures both with a ruler. “The color should be golden brown and the texture, slightly bumpy. Plus, each batch needs to yield at least 45 biscuits.” Inside, the biscuits are light and fluffy. Surprisingly, taste is not one of the judges’ criteria, but the spectators were more than happy to try the warm biscuits for themselves and evaluate. The universal verdict: Delicious.

The biscuit serves as the foundation for many favorites at Bojangles’ restaurants, including the Bacon, Egg & Cheese Biscuit, available on the all-day breakfast menu, the sweet Bo-Berry Biscuit, and the Cajun Filet Biscuit.

A few words from the contestants

The six finalists had already earned cash prizes in the regionals and after this final competition were eager to hit the Disney World theme parks with their families. But Lindsey Mangold, a finalist from a Bojangles restaurant in Knoxville, Tennessee, made some time to talk about her biscuit making journey.

Mangold, a mom of four, has been working for the brand for 11 years, starting as a night shift cashier. “I found it interesting to be cross-trained,” she said, speaking of her biscuit training, which takes about four weeks. “Before I came to compete for the championship, I made a lot of biscuits to practice, but being on stage was just like being in the store,” she said.

Although she was nervous at first making biscuits in front of the huge crowd, “I calmed down after I started rolling out the dough,” Mangold said. On the job, she makes about 20 batches of biscuits a day, yielding 47-55 per batch, so rolling dough is her comfort zone. After she cuts out the rounds, the excess dough can’t be reworked; over-rolling will toughen the biscuits. But Bojangles has created a use for the biscuit dough scraps. The chain just launched Donut Bites, using the repurposed dough rolled into small balls, fried crisp, tossed in sugar, and served with a salted caramel sauce for dipping. It’s a no-waste solution that Mangold appreciates, she said.

Of the six biscuit-baking six finalists, four are Hispanic women. Maria Dimas, with Bojangles for 15 years, is the biscuit whiz at the very busy Conover, North Carolina, restaurant. “On weekends, I make 18 batches between 7 a.m. and 3 p.m.,” she said. “Customers come to my store and ask for my biscuits. I put a little extra love into each batch.” The Conover location holds a record for turning out 2,000 biscuits a day.

At home, Dimas makes her own tortillas and tamales, and partially attributes that experience to her biscuit making skills — and her love of the process. At the Conover store, the biscuit station is in a corner, so she doesn’t get easily distracted, and once she gets into the dough “it feels like a zen experience,” she said.

Dimas has competed in four major contests, and this was her year. She was named the “Best of the Best Biscuit Makers” on the corporate store side for 2026. Winning the championship on the franchise side was Edith Chavez, biscuit maker at Bojangles' Yadkinville, North Carolina, store. Each received a check for $6,000.

“I feel like a celebrity,” said Dimas upon winning.

The next morning, the convention continued with an awards ceremony honoring franchisees for achievements including highest AUVs in the system, best guest-count growth, and top opening-week sales. All were welcomed to the stage by Bojangles CEO José Armario, including biscuit baking champions Dimas and Chavez, who received their trophies.

As much as Bojangles is about its biscuits, it’s also about the pride its franchisees and team members take in their work and in the brand. And that shines through in every biscuit that comes out of the oven.