The Flying Biscuit

Deciding whether to invest $453,450 to over $1 million in a full-service restaurant franchise is one of the most consequential financial decisions a prospective franchisee will make, and the core question deserves a direct, data-driven answer rather than marketing language. The Flying Biscuit franchise occupies a genuinely differentiated position within the breakfast and brunch segment: a Southern comfort food concept built around fresh, scratch-made biscuits, creative culinary twists, and a community-driven dining atmosphere that commands customer loyalty well above the fast-casual breakfast average. The brand traces its origins to 1993, when its first location opened in Atlanta's Candler Park neighborhood, establishing a foundation of neighborhood-scale hospitality that has defined the concept's identity for over three decades. The corporate headquarters is located in Atlanta, Georgia, and the brand currently operates 39 locations nationwide as of its most recent Spartanburg, South Carolina opening on June 9th, 2025, with all locations franchised, reflecting a fully asset-light corporate structure. Parent company Big Game Brands LLC oversees the brand, with President Daryl Dollinger, Vice President of Operations and Brand Leader Brent Fuller, and Vice President of Franchise Development Andrew Scherzer comprising the active leadership team. The brand's total addressable market in the breakfast and brunch full-service restaurant sector measured $14.4 billion in revenue as of 2022 and is expanding at a 5.2% annual growth rate, meaningfully outpacing the broader restaurant industry. For franchise investors evaluating The Flying Biscuit franchise, the fundamental story is one of a founder-culture brand that survived ownership transitions, maintained unit-level economics well above the breakfast sub-sector average, and is now executing an aggressive multi-state expansion strategy under institutional franchise management. This analysis draws exclusively on FDD-reported data, publicly disclosed financial performance figures, and independently verified industry benchmarks, not promotional materials from the franchisor.

The breakfast and brunch industry is one of the most structurally resilient categories in the entire restaurant franchise universe, and the macroeconomic conditions favoring it have only strengthened since 2020. The revenue-based market size of the Breakfast Restaurants and Diners industry reached $14.4 billion in 2022 with a 5.2% growth rate, a figure that significantly outpaced overall U.S. GDP growth during that same period. A Technomic report from 2020 projected food service sales growth of over 20% in 2021 as pandemic restrictions lifted, and the breakfast segment captured a disproportionate share of that recovery because of its lower average check size, higher visit frequency, and strong consumer emotional attachment to morning dining rituals. The all-day breakfast trend has emerged as one of the most durable consumer preferences in food service, with operators who extend breakfast hours consistently reporting higher weekly covers than those adhering to traditional morning-only service windows. Health-conscious dining is a second secular tailwind, with consumers increasingly demanding menu options that incorporate fresh, minimally processed ingredients, a positioning The Flying Biscuit franchise has occupied since its inception through its use of organic grains and house-made components. The brunch culture phenomenon represents a third distinct demand driver, with brunch now functioning as a socialized, leisurely occasion commanding longer table turns, higher beverage attachment rates, and strong weekend traffic patterns that insulate brunch-centric brands from the weekday lunch competition that erodes margins at general casual dining operators. Mobile ordering, loyalty programs, and technology integration for convenience have become table stakes in the modern brunch experience, with brands that lag on these capabilities losing market share to faster-moving operators. The competitive landscape of the breakfast and brunch full-service segment remains meaningfully fragmented at the regional level, creating durable franchise expansion opportunities for brands like The Flying Biscuit that have established operational systems, trained labor pipelines, and recognizable menu differentiation.

The Flying Biscuit franchise cost structure positions this opportunity as a mid-to-premium tier investment within the full-service restaurant category. The initial franchise fee is $45,000, which sits at the upper boundary of what independent analysts consider standard for emerging-to-mid-scale full-service concepts, where franchise fees typically range from $30,000 to $50,000. Total investment to open a Flying Biscuit Cafe location ranges from $453,450 on the low end to approximately $1.04 million on the high end, a spread driven by variables including market geography, real estate conditions, build-out scope versus conversion opportunity, and equipment procurement timelines. Cross-referencing multiple FDD reporting periods produces a consistent investment band: an earlier range of $500,000 to $700,000 reflected pre-inflation construction costs, while more recent data pegs the range between $645,250 and $944,350 in one FDD iteration and $766,750 to $1,171,350 in another, with the variation explained by differences in real estate and construction cost inputs across southeastern and emerging new markets. Prospective franchisees should plan for a minimum of $145,000 to $150,000 in liquid capital and a net worth of at least $750,000 to satisfy financial qualification thresholds, requirements that are consistent with full-service restaurant franchise standards where working capital reserves must sustain operations through the 12-to-18-month ramp-up period typical of new restaurant openings. The ongoing royalty rate is 5% of gross sales, a rate that compares favorably to the 4-to-8% range typical across the full-service restaurant franchise category and reflects reasonable ongoing cost of support relative to the unit-level revenue the brand generates. Advertising contributions are included within the ongoing fee structure, consistent with standard franchise operating agreements. The parent company, Big Game Brands LLC, provides institutional infrastructure, vendor negotiation leverage, and supply chain management that reduce the effective cost of goods for individual franchisees relative to operating independently. SBA lending programs are commonly applied in full-service restaurant franchise acquisitions of this investment magnitude, and The Flying Biscuit's established FDD history and growing unit count improve the brand's profile for lenders evaluating franchise loan applications.

The Flying Biscuit franchise operating model is built around a full-service, daytime dining format that typically operates breakfast and lunch hours, eliminating the labor complexity and food safety demands of dinner and late-night service while maximizing kitchen throughput during the highest-margin dayparts in casual dining. A typical Flying Biscuit Cafe location requires a trained front-of-house team supported by a scratch kitchen crew, with staffing models reflecting the labor intensity of made-from-scratch biscuits, creative egg dishes, and house-prepared sauces and proteins. Initial training spans two weeks and is conducted at The Flying Biscuit's corporate headquarters, where new franchisees receive deep instruction in operational procedures, brand standards, food preparation protocols, and the service culture that defines the guest experience. The training program is structured to cover pre-opening operational readiness and transitions into hands-on support during the critical first weeks after a location opens, with continued field consultation available through the brand's support infrastructure. Franchisee support extends across brand marketing, location selection research, real estate evaluation, and construction management guidance, reducing the execution risk that derails underprepared restaurant operators in the build-out and pre-opening phases. One distinctive element of The Flying Biscuit's support structure is an internal culinary competition in which individual restaurant chefs create original dishes, with winning creations featured as monthly specials across all system restaurants, a mechanism that simultaneously drives menu innovation, engages franchise-level culinary talent, and generates marketing content. The brand maintains a collaborative franchise culture that actively solicits input from local franchise owners, a governance model that produces higher operator satisfaction and lower system conflict than top-down-only franchise management approaches. Territory strategy is concentrated along major metropolitan corridors in the Southeast, with strategic clustering in North Carolina and Georgia creating operational support density and brand recognition momentum that benefits all operators within those corridors. The brand's leadership team also maintains active relationships with a network of lending consultants to help franchisees navigate SBA financing and other capital solutions.

Item 19 financial performance data is not disclosed in the current Franchise Disclosure Document for The Flying Biscuit franchise, meaning the franchisor has not made formal financial performance representations within the FDD filing that would provide legally standardized revenue or earnings data for prospective franchisees to review. This is a material consideration during due diligence, and prospective investors should request available financial information through direct franchisee validation calls and consultation with a qualified franchise attorney before committing capital. However, publicly available data points from multiple reporting periods provide meaningful signals about unit-level performance. The average gross revenue per unit has been reported at $1,640,350, a figure that exceeds the breakfast and brunch sub-sector average of $718,765 by approximately 128%, representing a substantial outperformance relative to the competitive set. A separately reported average unit volume figure of $1.9 million and a 2019 average unit volume of approximately $1,510,000 corroborate the directional consistency of the brand's revenue performance across market cycles. Yearly gross sales of $1,514,390 have also been cited in public franchise research databases. Owner-operator estimated earnings based on publicly available modeling fall between $106,008 and $151,439 annually, with an estimated franchise payback period of 6.7 to 8.7 years, a range consistent with full-service restaurant franchise norms where capital-intensive build-outs require multi-year cash flow accumulation to recover initial investment. The spread between top and bottom performers in the system is driven by real estate positioning, operator experience, local market demographics, and adherence to brand standards, factors that franchisee validation calls can help a prospective investor evaluate more precisely for a specific target territory. Against a total investment midpoint of approximately $747,000, the reported average revenue figures imply a revenue-to-investment ratio that compares competitively with other full-service breakfast franchise opportunities requiring similar capital commitment.

The Flying Biscuit's growth trajectory over the past six years provides concrete evidence of a brand in active expansion rather than stagnation. In 2019, the system comprised 21 U.S. units with a year-over-year unit change of 16.7%, and by November 2020, the count stood at 20 thriving locations as the system absorbed pandemic disruption. The brand reported a 33% increase in unit growth as of 2022, a recovery and acceleration that validated the durability of the breakfast daypart during economic stress. By October 2023, the chain had surpassed 30 franchise locations across the Southeast, growing to 35 units by October 2024, and reaching 39 locations nationwide with the Spartanburg, South Carolina opening in May 2025. Five new locations were added in 2024 alone, and the brand has communicated an ambitious target of 15 new locations opening in 2025, with confirmed new markets including Huntsville, Alabama; Knoxville, Tennessee; Tallahassee, Florida; and Jonesboro, Arkansas, in addition to the completed Spartanburg opening. The brand's competitive moat is built on three reinforcing pillars: a deeply regional culinary identity rooted in Southern scratch cooking that is difficult for non-specialist operators to replicate at comparable quality; a community-hospitality service model that drives repeat visit frequency and word-of-mouth referrals in neighborhood trade areas; and an institutional franchise infrastructure under Big Game Brands LLC that provides supply chain leverage, vendor relationships, and marketing systems unavailable to independent breakfast operators. The brand has also demonstrated geographic adaptability, recently opening a location in Colorado and signaling interest in larger metropolitan markets including the Northeast, evidence that the concept is not permanently constrained to the Southeastern biscuit belt. The all-day breakfast and brunch consumer trend provides durable secular tailwinds, with the $14.4 billion breakfast and brunch industry continuing to expand at 5.2% annually and creating incremental unit opportunity for experienced operators entering underserved markets.

The ideal Flying Biscuit franchise candidate is a hands-on operator or experienced multi-unit restaurant entrepreneur with the financial profile to sustain a full-service restaurant investment through the ramp-up period, the leadership capacity to build and retain a trained kitchen and front-of-house team, and a genuine alignment with the brand's community-hospitality ethos. Liquid capital of at least $150,000 and a net worth of $750,000 are the baseline financial qualifications, but candidates with backgrounds in restaurant management, food and beverage operations, or hospitality services will find the operational demands of a scratch-kitchen concept less daunting than those entering from unrelated industries. Multi-unit franchise development is a stated growth priority for the brand, making candidates with the financial capacity and operational infrastructure to develop two or more units within a defined territory particularly attractive to the franchise development team led by Andrew Scherzer. Available territories for franchising currently extend across the Southeast with priority markets in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia, with additional expansion interest in Mid-Atlantic, Midwest, and Southwest regions as the brand tests its transferability beyond its core geographic base. Markets with strong brunch culture, high millennial and Gen X household density, and underserved premium breakfast capacity represent the highest-probability success environments based on the brand's existing unit performance data. The franchise agreement provides for an established term length, with the full details available through the current FDD. From execution of the franchise agreement through site selection, build-out, training, and grand opening, prospective franchisees should model a 12-to-18-month pre-opening timeline consistent with full-service restaurant construction and permitting norms in southeastern markets.

For franchise investors conducting rigorous due diligence on the full-service breakfast and brunch category, The Flying Biscuit franchise warrants serious analysis as a differentiated, community-anchored brand with documented revenue performance well above the sub-sector average, an accelerating unit growth trajectory of 15 anticipated new locations in 2025, and an institutional parent company structure capable of supporting system-wide scaling. The investment thesis rests on three converging factors: a $14.4 billion addressable market expanding at 5.2% annually, reported average unit revenues of $1.64 million to $1.9 million that substantially outperform competitive set benchmarks, and a brand identity rooted in Southern culinary craftsmanship that is structurally resistant to fast-casual commoditization. The franchise fee of $45,000, total investment range of $453,450 to approximately $1.04 million, 5% royalty rate, and $150,000 liquid capital requirement define the cost structure, while the brand's FPI Score of 58 on the PeerSense platform reflects a moderate risk-adjusted opportunity consistent with a growing regional brand executing a national expansion. PeerSense provides exclusive due diligence data including SBA lending history, FPI score analysis, location maps with Google ratings, FDD financial data cross-referencing, and side-by-side comparison tools that allow investors to benchmark The Flying Biscuit franchise against comparable full-service breakfast concepts by investment level, unit economics, and growth trajectory. The combination of above-average reported revenues, a fully franchised asset-light system, and an aggressive 2025 expansion pipeline positions The Flying Biscuit as a franchise opportunity that merits detailed evaluation by any investor seriously considering the breakfast and brunch category. Explore the complete The Flying Biscuit franchise profile on PeerSense to access the full suite of independent franchise intelligence data.