McDonald's is preparing a hiring binge to fill nearly 50,000 openings nationwide, including about 360 in the Triangle.

The fast-food chain will hold its first annual hiring day on April 19, when it will accept applications and hold in-person interviews.

McDonald's is adding staff as its business improves and more of its restaurants stay open 24 hours a day. The economic recovery also is creating more turnover as other employers start to increase hiring.

Boddie-Noell Enterprises has blessed the latest TV ads for Hardee's, which feature a bikini-clad Miss Turkey promoting the fast-food chain's new turkey burger.

Rocky Mount-based Boddie-Noell is the country's largest Hardee's franchisee. The family owned business also is known for its conservative culture: Boddie-Noell bosses previously have refused to run other provocative Hardee's promotions in this market.

The new TV spots will begin airing Thursday night during the NCAA tournament games, said spokesman Rick Rountree. The ads promote Hardee's new line of "under 500-calorie" turkey burgers, which are an effort to attract customers seeking healthier fare.

The corporate parent of Hardee's, the restaurant chain with deep roots in eastern North Carolina, agreed to be bought by a private equity firm for about $928 million.

CKE Restaurants, which bought Hardee's in 1997, this morning announced the deal with Thomas H. Lee Partners LP.

CKE investors will receive $11.05 in cash for each share. That's 24 percent more than CKE's closing price of $8.91 on Thursday.

The company's shares jumped $2.26 to $11.17 in morning trading. That price suggests that investors expect a better price from Thomas Lee or another suitor.

As part of its deal, CKE has until April 6 to solicit better offers. Thomas Lee is a Boston-based buyout firm.

Boddie-Noell Enterprises' refusal to run racy Hardee's ads in its region, including the Carolinas, is getting more mileage.

Last month, the Rocky Mount company and country's largest Hardee's franchisee drew national attention when its chairman wrote a letter bashing ads for a new breakfast product, Biscuit Holes. See the original story here.

In the letter, Mayo Boddie asked Hardee's parent company CKE Restaurants to pull the ads everywhere.

This morning's USA Today has a story looking at how fast-food franchisees are balking at provocative ads from Burger King and other fast-food chains.

The story points out that in tough economic times, no one wants to offend diners.

Another Hardee's promotion has been rejected as too racy for North Carolina's conservative consumers.

The Rocky Mount company that is Hardee's largest franchisee is angry about TV ads for the fast-food chain's new Biscuit Holes. Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which owns nearly 350 Hardee's, is refusing to run the ads, which also are drawing fire from the Parents Television Council.

The ads ask customers to help name the sweet treats, and offer suggestions such as "iced B-holes." In one ad, customers doing taste tests are asked to choose between the "A-holes" and the "B-holes."

In a letter to the council, Boddie-Noell chairman Ben Mayo Boddie wrote that he won't allow the ads to run in any markets that it controls, and that he has asked Hardee's parent, CKE Restaurants of California, to drop the ads everywhere.

Hardee's has drawn criticism for its ads before, including ones that featured socialite Paris Hilton in a bathing suit eating a massive burger.

A man went to Wendy's for some late-night grub just before 2 a.m. on Tuesday. He was on foot and couldn't get into the restaurant because only the drive-through was open. "He asked if I would take his money and order his food in the drive-through," wrote Carrboro Police Officer L. Alvarez in an incident report. "I did, and he left the area without incident."

I met a friend for lunch last week at Buns, the new burger joint at 107
N. Columbia St., where Jersey Mike's subs used to be. This guy is a
married man I know from church, and he joked that we shouldn't tell
anyone the name of the place, or they'd think it was a strip club.
Turns out Buns just makes a damn good burger. They also serve coconut pineapple, carrot, and red velvet cakes -- but no cheesecake.