December 1, 2022 | QSR Magazine
Biscuitville Fresh Southern opened six new restaurants across new and existing markets in 2022 to end the year with a total of 69 locations serving customers scratch-made biscuits, baked fresh every 15 minutes. To support the company’s growing operations, Biscuitville celebrated the grand opening of its 78,000-square foot distribution center, designed to supply current and future restaurants across the enterprise, which in 2023 is expected to include South Carolina locations.
“This year we introduced Biscuitville to new communities, and we expanded in our existing markets. We added state-of-the-art point of sale technology, and we streamlined our distribution capabilities. The enthusiastic response of our guests and the tremendous support of our team members combined to make our current success possible,” says President and CEO Kathie Niven. “We are looking forward to a great 2023, and we are so very grateful for all the good things that we accomplished together in 2022.”
A Steady Wave of Grand Openings
The 2022 expansion in North Carolina and Virginia included the following Grand Openings:
Each of the newly opened restaurants feature Biscuitville’s signature design, which included a dual-lane drive-thru and the large biscuit window where guests can view the biscuit-making process. The window is an iconic feature to Biscuitville’s brand and the company proudly posts Home of the Biscuit Window Since 1966 in front of its biscuit makers. In addition to the current restaurant design that includes dine-in and drive-thru options, the company also has put the finishing touches on a drive-thru only design prototype that will be ready to open in the spring of 2023.
Innovation and Investment
Behind the scenes, Biscuitville continued to invest in culinary innovation with everything from dozens of seasonal menu offerings during the year to new, state-of-the-art ovens being installed across the enterprise to produce muffins and other dessert treats.
During 2022, the company also rolled out its multi-million-dollar, customized, point-of-sale system designed to make the thousands of different ways a guest can order breakfast happen seamlessly.
The IDEA team — which stands for Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility — was launched this year. With members across many different departments and job levels, the IDEA team members collectively have participated in more than 125 hours of professional development training to heighten their awareness around diversity, equity and inclusion topics. They also established a framework around their strategy and collaborated with other leadership groups within the organization to gain partnership and alignment around collective goals.
Another example of positive connection with great results in 2022 is the collaboration of Biscuitville’s Culinary Product Innovation, Marketing, and Operations teams who worked together to develop new concepts and processes in 2022 that kept the company’s performance well above the industry in guest satisfaction ratings. In 2022, Biscuitville’s guests scored the restaurant well ahead of competitors in overall satisfaction, taste of food, speed of service, friendliness of staff and accuracy of the orders.
In addition to adding new equipment and menu items, Biscuitville has invested in the well- being of its people with the launch at midyear of the RISE Fund. The mission of the RISE Fund is to help employees who find themselves coping with unforeseen financial hardships. The fund relies primarily on employee donations (which are tax-deductible) and is administered by a third-party non-profit.
Recognizing Team Talent
In addition to significant investments and expanding geographically during the year, Biscuitville made organizational changes to better support the growing organization.
In February the company promoted Jeff Linville to Chief Operations Officer; Blake Jennings was named vice president of Development and Facilities and became a member of the Leadership Team; and Alon Vanterpool was named director of Internal Communications with a responsibility for communicating with the 2,400-plus employees who work across the Biscuitville enterprise.
In April, Jeff Archer joined the company as new Chief Information Officer. Andrea Angelo joined the Biscuitville team in June as director of External Communication. Nalicia Stevenson Addo was named director of Safety and Compliance in August. And, Belinda Kyle started at Biscuitville in October as Chief People Officer.
Maintaining A Local and Family Focus
As a part of its ongoing menu innovation, Biscuitville began testing Community Coffee in limited locations in the latter portion of 2021. By the beginning of 2022, all locations across the enterprise were serving Community Coffee, the nation’s No. 1 family-owned retail coffee brand since 1919.
In March, in keeping with its family-owned and local focus for its vendor partners, Biscuitville began serving Winston-Salem’s award-winning Red Clay Gourmet Pimento cheese. In July, the company launched its relationship with Mennel Milling – owned and operated by the Mennel family for five generations and with locations in Newton, NC and Roanoke, VA. Also in 2022, Biscuitville welcomed back guest-favorite Mount Olive Pickles – produced in Mount Olive, NC since 1926.
These new and returning supply partners join other long-time suppliers featured on the Biscuitville menu including Springer Mountain Farms, Cheerwine and Cakalacky sauce.
An Award-Winning Year
In March, Biscuitville was named one of the 10 best Regional Fast Food restaurants in the 2022 USA Today Readers’ Choice 10Best contest. The win marked the third year in a row that the restaurant was selected by USA Today readers for the honor.
On April 18, Biscuitville’s Bonnie Davis was announced as a Star of the Industry by the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association. Davis, who works at the 3029 Gate City Boulevard location in Greensboro, is a shift leader with more than 33 years of experience in the restaurant industry and was one of only four award recipients from across the state recognized by NCRLA as a 2022 Star of if the Industry in the Restaurant Employee of the Year category. Nominees for the prestigious annual award were evaluated based on their outstanding leadership qualities, awe-inspiring community outreach, and exceptional service and character.
And in October, Food & Wine Magazine named Biscuitville the best fast food in North Carolina in a ranking of the best quick-service, locally loved restaurant in each state across America.
