BY STEPHEN H. COWLES/CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Playback58@gmail.com

FRANKLIN—Eddie Phillips grew up with Hardee’s in Franklin, starting when he began there as a cook at 18 years old. Thirty-four years later, his work as a senior district manager has earned him a Founders Award, the top honor presented by Boddie-Noell Enterprises, which owns Hardee’s.

A plaque and cash gift were presented to him during a meeting in Nashville.

“Eddie’s a tremendous talent,” said Gene Dickens, regional vice president for Boddie-Noell Enterprises. “Over the years we have seen him grow so much.”

“My group of six restaurants had the highest contribution bottom line in our company,” said Phillips, who’ll be 52 this July. He oversees the Hardee’s in Franklin, Smithfield, three in Suffolk and one in Waverly.

Work on the Courtland branch is “on target,” said he, adding the opening is anticipated for the first part of June. That Hardee’s will also become part of his district.

“I was thrown in certain situations — cash registers and things like that,” Phillips said with a laugh about the on-the-job training received within the first three years.

“I needed the job for gas money because I was going to Chowan College in Murfreesboro. I was going to do news writing/ad copy,” he said.

Phillips is not the only person in his family to work at the Franklin site. His mother, Carol, worked as a cashier. An older sister and eventually a younger brother and sister also came to work there. His father, Ed, was a health inspector and a regular visitor checking on site.

Later he obviously decided to go on with Hardee’s, and management training followed. For three years Phillips worked as an assistant manager at the Hardee’s on West Constance and Holland roads in Suffolk. After a year as general manager, he opened and managed a site in Newport News, then came back to Suffolk to work at the Hardee’s on Route 58 for about a year and-a-half.

“The career path took me to our management training program,” Phillips said. Within a two-week classroom environment, he learned administrative and technical skills that included issues about benefits and legal issues. That happened about 10 years ago when he first became a district manager.

“At first I had a group of restaurants that included some Virginia Beach locations. I’ve also supervised in Chesapeake and Norfolk,” he said. “I’ve had this current group for seven going on eight years.”

Living with his wife, Bonnie, in Windsor, Phillips goes to each of his branches at least twice a week, checking on all business facets with his general managers, such as Phyllis Davis, who’s been at the Franklin site for 13 years.

Jackie Scott, the senior general manager at the Hardee’s on Pruden Boulevard in Suffolk, was among those recently lauded for her work. Phillips said she’s won many times before on the restaurant level.

“I do have some great general managers. They’re a great group of professional leaders,” he said, adding that all the employees are more than just workers to him.

“We’re a family,” said Phillips. “I’m blessed to be in the situation I am.”