Business notes

Bojangles’ made a tasty debut on Wall Street Friday, with the Charlotte-based restaurant chain’s shares rising as much as 47 percent in its first day of trading.

Trading under the ticker symbol “BOJA” on the NASDAQ exchange, Bojangles’ shares opened at $26.55, climbed to nearly $28 and by mid-afternoon were up 33 percent to $25.30. The IPO price set Thursday evening was $19.

200 jobs for Anderson

A company that makes power tools is expanding its operations in Anderson County in a move that is expected to add more than 200 jobs.

Techtronic Industries will spend $85 million on a distribution and manufacturing center along Interstate 85 and state Highway 81, according to multiple media reports. Techtronic Industries brands include Ryobi, Homelite, Hoover, Orek and Dirt Devil.

Blue Bell Creameries knew there was listeria in one of the company’s plants as far back as March 2013, according to a government investigation. But the company didn’t issue any recalls or shut down its production until after the products were linked to listeria illnesses this year – including three deaths in Kansas.

The Food and Drug Administration released results Thursday of its investigations into Blue Bell’s plants in Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama after an open-records request by The Associated Press. The most extensive violations were found in Oklahoma, where the FDA listed 17 positive tests for listeria on equipment and around its plant there from March 2013 through February 2015.

Neither Blue Bell nor the FDA has said why the Oklahoma plant was not closed after repeated findings of listeria, which wasn’t found in the food but in multiple locations around the plant.

IN BRIEF

▪  Did you know that more flowers are sold on Mother’s Day than on Valentine’s Day? This year U.S. florists expect record sales. Tells you something about how much children love their mothers. Or how guilty they feel about not writing or calling.

▪  After months of testing by air bag maker Takata and an independent panel of engineers, there’s still no clear answer why some air bags are blamed for killing drivers after being triggered and spraying metal shrapnel.

▪  At a recent Cup of Excellence auction in Brazil, an unlikely entrant – Starbucks – made a splash when it bought the entire lot of the top-ranked coffee, from a family-owned farm in southeastern Brazil, for $23.80 a pound.

From Wire Reports.

This story was originally published May 8, 2015 at 9:12 PM with the headline "Business notes."