Houston is becoming an increasingly important city for Biscuit Belly as the brand pushes into Texas and looks for room to scale its chef-driven brunch concept in high-growth metros. With its size, pace of development and appetite for distinctive dining experiences, the city offers the kind of conditions that can help an emerging restaurant brand gain traction quickly.

For Biscuit Belly, that opportunity is already starting to take shape. The growing breakfast-and-brunch franchise signed its first multi-unit agreement in Houston in June 2025 and is now working toward its first opening while looking at where the concept could go next across the metro. The focus for now is on getting those first restaurants open and running well, but the market’s longer-term potential is already coming into view.

Chad Coulter, founder and CEO of Biscuit Belly, said the company was persuaded by the operator and by Houston’s growing reputation as a launchpad for emerging restaurant brands.

“We honestly didn’t have Houston on our radar at first. We were mainly trying to stay in the Southeast, but a fan of the brand reached out about franchising opportunities and we felt like it was a really good fit,” Coulter said. “We had seen a lot of emerging concepts go to Houston early, especially if they weren’t already from there, and we heard good feedback from those brands about how things were doing. It seems to be one of those cities that’s really at the forefront for emerging restaurant concepts. She was willing to sign on for a couple of units, we were aligned and, if there’s a good match, sometimes you’re willing to work through the other complications and figure it out.”

Even before opening, Biscuit Belly has started to see signs that the Houston move is generating attention. Some of that interest has come from potential franchisees. Some of it has come from future guests who simply want to know when the brand will arrive. Either way, the brand is starting to build visibility in Houston, which is often the first meaningful step in a successful launch.

A Different Kind of Brunch Play

Houston is not short on breakfast and brunch options. National names and local favorites already have a foothold there, and Coulter is well aware that Biscuit Belly is entering a competitive space. What gives him confidence is not the absence of demand, but the lack of direct competition around the brand’s specific niche.

The company is betting that a biscuit-forward concept can carve out room in a market where plenty of operators serve breakfast, but few have built an established brand around biscuits as the centerpiece.

“There have been successes in the breakfast segment down there. You’ve got players like Snooze and local brands that have flourished and have multiple locations there,” Coulter said. “But there’s nothing biscuit-focused, which is what I like. From an established brand standpoint, there doesn’t seem to be much, if any, competition in the biscuit space specifically. You can go anywhere and get bacon and eggs and five different kinds of waffles or pancakes, maybe with some slight variations, but no one, especially in Houston, is doing what we’re doing with biscuits and the different combinations we’re putting together. We don’t want to be just like every other place. We want to be very unique.”

That kind of differentiation matters in Houston, where people tend to respond to concepts that bring something new to the table. At the same time, Biscuit Belly sees room to work in flavors that feel right for Texas without making the menu harder to execute. Coulter pointed to a birria limited-time offering as one example of how the menu might nod to flavors that resonate in Texas while still staying true to the brand’s identity.

Building Carefully, Not Recklessly

For all the excitement around Houston, Biscuit Belly is not approaching the market with a land grab mentality. The first location is planned for the Heights, and the franchisee is already looking seriously at Katy for a second site. Memorial and the Woodlands are also on the radar. But Coulter made clear that long-term growth will depend less on drawing circles on a map and more on execution.

“We’re in for permits now, so we’re hoping October-ish is when we’ll open, and the franchisee is already looking at their second location in Katy,” Coulter said. “But it all depends on these first two. We’ve got to make sure we operate at a high level and provide support to the franchisees. We don’t get too wrapped up in the five-year plan before we’ve proven ourselves.”

That measured approach also shapes the kind of partners Biscuit Belly hopes to add over time. Coulter said alignment matters just as much as capital. The company wants operators who can execute consistently and fit with the culture being established by its first Houston franchisee, because one weak store can do as much damage to a market as one strong store can help it.

A Texas Growth Story in the Making

Houston may not have been part of Biscuit Belly’s original blueprint, but it is quickly becoming a meaningful piece of the brand’s Texas story. The market offers scale, energy and a food scene that rewards bold ideas, all of which make it attractive for a concept trying to establish itself beyond its early geographic comfort zone.

For Coulter, the opportunity in Houston comes with plenty of upside, but also a clear need to execute. Biscuit Belly’s job now is to stay focused, play to its strengths and make sure those first openings give the brand something solid to build from.

To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/biscuit-belly.