Latest / The Kevin Stone Podcast / Episode #30 "Biscuitville Best Breakfast in America. but not in Arkansas"

Transcript

Episode #30 "Biscuitville Best Breakfast in America. but not in Arkansas" · The Kevin Stone Podcast

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  Speaker 1: Customized listening. Let's begin by cleaning those ears. Who am I?
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  Speaker 1: I'm a nobody. I just happen to have a camera
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  Speaker 1: and a microphone and an internet connection, which makes me
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  Speaker 1: a superstar. I have beef enchiladas in the oven. What? Yes.
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  Speaker 1: And you made them or are they frozen? Well, they
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  Speaker 1: won't be frozen in about 35 minutes. Hey, I made
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  Speaker 1: it at the house, so it's homemade. I'm Kevin Stone,
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  Speaker 1: and this is the Kevin Stone Podcast. And today's show
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  Speaker 1: is going to be a little bit interesting, at least
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  Speaker 1: it was for me, because I got the idea for
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  Speaker 1: today's episode from a guy at work. Because one of
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  Speaker 1: my co-workers found an article on Fox News and started
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  Speaker 1: reading it out loud with some kind of enthusiasm normally
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  Speaker 1: reserved for like a winning lottery ticket or an Arkansas
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  Speaker 1: Razorback Championship. The headline said a little southern restaurant chain
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  Speaker 1: called Biscuitville had beaten McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, and Wendy's
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  Speaker 1: to claim the best fast food breakfast in America. Now,
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  Speaker 1: of course, that got my attention. But I had two
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  Speaker 1: immediate reactions. First, Biscuitville? That's a real place? It sounds
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  Speaker 1: like somewhere a cartoon mayor would live. Where the streets
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  Speaker 1: are paved with gravy and every traffic circle has a
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  Speaker 1: butter dish in the middle of it. Like the town
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  Speaker 1: the Pillsbury Doughboy would retire to. Second, if this place
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  Speaker 1: really serves the best fast food breakfast in the entire country,
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  Speaker 1: why in the world don't we have one in Arkansas?
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  Speaker 1: I mean, seriously. Arkansas knows biscuits. We understand gravy. We're
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  Speaker 1: perfectly capable of eating fried chicken before the sun comes up.
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  Speaker 1: If anybody is culturally prepared for a place called Biscuitville,
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  Speaker 1: it ought to be us. So I put Charlie, the
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  Speaker 1: podcast chief of staff, on the case. And yes, the
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  Speaker 1: basic claim is true. Biscuitville won USA Today's 2026 10
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  Speaker 1: Best Reader's Choice Award for the Best Fast Food Breakfast.
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  Speaker 1: It was the company's fourth straight win in that category.
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  Speaker 1: Fox News reported Biscuitville as number one, McDonald's at number four,
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  Speaker 1: Chick-fil-A at number five, Burger King at number six, and
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  Speaker 1: Wendy's at number seven. That's impressive. McDonald's has been selling
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  Speaker 1: Egg McMuffins since before some of us had gray hair.
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  Speaker 1: Chick-fil-A has built a loyal following around chicken biscuits. Burger
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  Speaker 1: King and Wendy's have spent a fortune trying to convince
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  Speaker 1: us that breakfast belongs in a drive-thru bag. Then this
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  Speaker 1: regional chain with locations in only three states walks in,
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  Speaker 1: drops a fresh biscuit on the table, and wins four
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  Speaker 1: years in a row. But we need to slow down
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  Speaker 1: before we go declaring this a scientifically proven breakfast emergency.
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  Speaker 1: The award was a reader's choice contest. Editors and a
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  Speaker 1: panel selected 20 nominees, and then members of the public
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  Speaker 1: voted during a four-week period. This was not a blind
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  Speaker 1: taste test. Nobody placed 20 unmarked sausage biscuits in front
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  Speaker 1: of a laboratory technician and measured the flakiness with government equipment.
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  Speaker 1: Biscuitville also encouraged its fans and employees to vote every day.
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  Speaker 1: The company's own voting page told supporters to set reminders,
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  Speaker 1: vote in both categories, and spread the word. Now there's
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  Speaker 1: nothing improper about that. That is how a public voting
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  Speaker 1: contest works. But it does change what the results prove.
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  Speaker 1: The vote tells us Biscuitville has a very loyal and
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  Speaker 1: very motivated customer base. It does not prove that every
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  Speaker 1: random person in America would choose Biscuitville over an Egg
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  Speaker 1: McMuffin in a blind contest. And there may even be
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  Speaker 1: a regional advantage hiding inside the numbers. McDonald's serves millions
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  Speaker 1: of people everywhere, which means practically everybody has an opinion
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  Speaker 1: about it. Biscuitville serves a smaller region where its customers
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  Speaker 1: already know it and apparently love it enough to vote repeatedly.
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  Speaker 1: A small, enthusiastic fan base can make a lot of
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  Speaker 1: noise in an online contest. That caveat does not mean
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  Speaker 1: Biscuitville is all hype. The company has built its reputation
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  Speaker 1: around doing breakfast differently from the national burger chains. According
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  Speaker 1: to Biscuitville, every biscuit is made fresh from scratch inside
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  Speaker 1: the restaurant and baked fresh every 15 minutes. The recipe
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  Speaker 1: uses three ingredients, locally milled flour, fresh buttermilk, and shortening.
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  Speaker 1: The kitchen cracks eggs by hand, and the company says
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  Speaker 1: there's not a microwave in any of its restaurants. You
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  Speaker 1: can also watch the biscuits being made through what the
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  Speaker 1: company calls its biscuit window. That is either brilliant transparency
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  Speaker 1: or breakfast theater. Probably both. The menu is built around
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  Speaker 1: biscuits and southern breakfast instead of treating breakfast like a
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  Speaker 1: side project. There are bacon, egg, and cheese biscuits, fried
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  Speaker 1: chicken biscuits, country ham, sausage gravy, grits, hash browns, platters, muffins,
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  Speaker 1: and variations such as spicy chicken and honey. Most locations
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  Speaker 1: open very early and close at 2 in the afternoon.
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  Speaker 1: They know exactly what business they're in. They're not trying
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  Speaker 1: to sell you biscuits at 7, a burger at noon,
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  Speaker 1: and an experimental taco at midnight. They make breakfast and lunch,
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  Speaker 1: and then they go home. Honestly, there's something refreshing about
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  Speaker 1: a company that knows what it does well. Maybe the
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  Speaker 1: biscuits really are that good. Four straight victories suggest the
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  Speaker 1: customers are not merely being polite. Now we arrive at
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  Speaker 1: the important question. Why is Arkansas being left in a
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  Speaker 1: biscuit desert? The answer appears to be growth strategy, geography,
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  Speaker 1: and control. Biscuitville is a family-owned regional company. As of
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  Speaker 1: its July 2026 award announcement, the company said it operated
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  Speaker 1: 87 restaurants in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia. The
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  Speaker 1: newer Fox News reports it recently opened its 90th store.
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  Speaker 1: Either way, this is a small operation compared to McDonald's,
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  Speaker 1: which has restaurants all over the country. Biscuitville also does
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  Speaker 1: not franchise its restaurants, according to regional reporting about the company.
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  Speaker 1: That matters because an Arkansas business owner cannot simply buy
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  Speaker 1: a franchise, hang up a Biscuitville sign, and start serving
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  Speaker 1: biscuits in Fort Smith next month. Expansion has to come
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  Speaker 1: from the company itself. Its supply system is centered in
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. Biscuitville opened a 78,000 square foot distribution center
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  Speaker 1: in Burlington, North Carolina, so it could distribute millions of
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  Speaker 1: products to its restaurants. Its food identity also depends heavily
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  Speaker 1: on nearby suppliers. The company says its eggs come from Monroe,
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina. Its flour comes from a fifth generation mill
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  Speaker 1: in Newton, North Carolina. and its chicken comes through a
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  Speaker 1: Georgia-based family business connected to farms in South Carolina and
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  Speaker 1: northern Georgia. That does not make Arkansas impossible. It does
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  Speaker 1: make Arkansas a long way from the center of the
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  Speaker 1: current operation. If your promise is local ingredients, fresh food,
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  Speaker 1: and consistent quality, you cannot expand like somebody scattering birdseed
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  Speaker 1: across a map. The clearest evidence is Biscuitville's own real
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  Speaker 1: estate page. The company invites people to submit possible locations.
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  Speaker 1: But it specifically asked for sites in North Carolina, South Carolina,
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  Speaker 1: or Southern Virginia. Arkansas is not on the current wish list.
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  Speaker 1: Neither is Tennessee. At least that's on the submission page.
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  Speaker 1: There have been past reports that Biscuitville hoped eventually to
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  Speaker 1: move into Tennessee and Georgia. Those states make geographic sense
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  Speaker 1: because they extend the existing footprint one step at a time.
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  Speaker 1: Arkansas would require another major move west. So this is
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  Speaker 1: not personal. Biscuitville has not reviewed Arkansas and declared us
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  Speaker 1: biscuit unworthy. The company simply has not expanded this far. Now,
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  Speaker 1: if expansion ever did come to Arkansas, I would choose
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  Speaker 1: Russellville as its first location. It's halfway between Little Rock
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  Speaker 1: and Fort Smith, and there's a lot of people that
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  Speaker 1: live there. Plus, it's my hometown. Still, I would like
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  Speaker 1: to make our case. Arkansas is not some untested breakfast market.
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  Speaker 1: We have farmers, truck drivers, construction crews, hospital workers, plant workers,
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  Speaker 1: and plenty of people beginning their day before sunrise. A
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  Speaker 1: restaurant opening at 5 in the morning and closing at
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  Speaker 1: 2 would understand its audience here. And culturally, this is
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  Speaker 1: not a difficult sell. You wouldn't have to explain a
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  Speaker 1: biscuit to Arkansas. Nobody would stare at the menu and
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  Speaker 1: ask whether gravy is a beverage. We already have strong
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  Speaker 1: opinions about biscuits, which may actually be the danger. Biscuitville
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  Speaker 1: would have to deliver. Maybe Biscuitville is good because it's
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  Speaker 1: grown slowly. Maybe keeping the restaurant near the supply chain
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  Speaker 1: allows the company to protect the thing people like. Rapid
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  Speaker 1: expansion has ruined more than one restaurant. Quality drops, service changes,
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  Speaker 1: and eventually the food tastes like it came from the
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  Speaker 1: accounting department. So I can respect the decision to grow carefully.
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  Speaker 1: I just want the careful growth to point west. Now
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  Speaker 1: here's my final verdict. Biscuitville has earned the right to
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  Speaker 1: make the claim, as long as we say what the
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  Speaker 1: claim actually means. It won a legitimate National Reader's Choice contest.
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  Speaker 1: It defeated famous competitors in that vote. It now won
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  Speaker 1: the category four consecutive years. Its customers clearly believe in
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  Speaker 1: the product, and the company's cooking practices give us reason
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  Speaker 1: to take the reputation seriously. But the title does not
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  Speaker 1: settle the argument for everybody. The restaurant operates in only
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  Speaker 1: three states, so most Americans have never had the opportunity
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  Speaker 1: to try it. A popularity contest among motivated voters is
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  Speaker 1: not the same thing as a nationwide blind taste test.
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  Speaker 1: In fact, the limited availability may be part of why
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  Speaker 1: the story is spreading. Tell Americans there's a fantastic restaurant
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  Speaker 1: they can't visit, and suddenly we all feel personally excluded.
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  Speaker 1: That is where I am now. Before my co-worker read
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  Speaker 1: that Fox News article... I was living a perfectly normal
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  Speaker 1: life without Biscuitville. Now I'm irritated that Arkansas does not
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  Speaker 1: have something I had never heard of. That may be
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  Speaker 1: the real power of a headline. Biscuitville, if anybody from
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  Speaker 1: your company happens to hear this, I'm inviting you to Arkansas.
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  Speaker 1: We have the customers. We understand early mornings. We respect
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  Speaker 1: a fresh biscuit. And somewhere along Interstate 40, I am
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  Speaker 1: confident we can find enough room for a building with
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  Speaker 1: a biscuit window. Until then, somebody's going to have to
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  Speaker 1: take a road trip and report back. Is Biscuitville genuinely
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  Speaker 1: better than McDonald's, Chick-fil-A, Burger King, and Wendy's? Or does
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  Speaker 1: North Carolina simply have the most organized breakfast voters in America?
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  Speaker 1: If you've eaten at a Biscuitville, tell me whether it
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  Speaker 1: deserves the title. And if you live in Arkansas, tell
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  Speaker 1: me where the first one should go, especially if you
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  Speaker 1: think it should be Russellville. You can find and follow
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  Speaker 1: the Kevin Stone Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker, iHeartRadio,
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: and Amazon. Amazon Music. And remember this, this show is
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  Speaker 1: not sponsored by Biscuitville. At the moment, I can't even
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  Speaker 1: buy one of their biscuits without using vacation time.