The Big Biscuit has 25 stores in three states.
Following the unexpected death of founder Dan Gerson last year, The Big Biscuit acquired the Gerson family’s two stores in Missouri this month.
The two stores—located in Independence and Blue Springs—closed last November. Gerson died in September. The family owned the two stores since 2000.
“Him and I had been talking for years about how he wanted to those sold to us at some point,” President Chad Offerdahl said. The franchise has 17 stores in the Kansas City metro area. “It just made sense to make those corporate locations rather than franchisee locations.”
Kansas City-based Big Biscuit has 25 stores open with another 11 in development. The company is open for breakfast and lunch and serves comfort food such as waffles and biscuits and gravy. Big Biscuit also has its signature “Bonut,” a biscuit made like French toast and topped with powdered sugar.
The Big Biscuit is the midst of hiring for the two previously closed stores, and has hired three former employees who worked there before they shut down, Offerdahl said.
Big Biscuit President Chad Offerdahl said acquiring the two Kansas City area stores “just made sense.”
Big Biscuit has competitors in the breakfast and lunch sector, with major players like Denny’s and IHOP, each of which are open late. There’s also morning and early afternoon-only brands like Broken Yolk Café and Another Broken Egg Café.
Prospective franchisees should have experience in multi-unit ownership, he said. Big Biscuit looks for owners who can commit to multiple stores or sign area development agreements, Offerdahl said.
“The most important thing, in my opinion,” he said, “with any franchisee-franchisor relationship is the ability to work together, to be on the same page and have the same values.”