Seasonal menus are easy to do badly — a new item shows up, gets a quick burst of attention, and quietly vanishes before stores ever know if it was worth the effort. Biscuit Belly takes a different route, treating limited-time features as a repeatable process built to keep guests interested without drifting from who the brand is.
“We try to have fun with it,” said Chad Coulter, founder and CEO of the fast-growing breakfast-and-brunch franchise. “We try to do things that are popular, but that may not be overdone.”
That line is the North Star. Coulter says the team deliberately avoids flavors that feel saturated, even when they’re the obvious seasonal play. “We try to stay away from pumpkin things because we feel like that’s a little ubiquitous these days,” he said, pointing instead to a fall menu built around sweet potato pancakes paired with “a salted butter and a bourbon maple.”
The goal isn’t to zig for the sake of zigging. It’s to stay recognizable. Coulter describes the brand’s seasonal lens as an extension of what Biscuit Belly already is — Southern comfort food with a playful edge — rather than a reason to become something else entirely.
“We try not to diverge too much from who we are and what we already have on our menu,” he said. “We try to stay true to our biscuit selves, so to speak.”
That boundary matters once you’re operating as a franchise. A seasonal feature can’t be clever only in the test kitchen — it has to land in every unit. If the rollout isn’t simple, it turns into extra labor, extra waste and a hit to profits.
For each launch, Coulter says the team builds an execution system that starts well before the first guest sees the menu. “For every item we have a detailed procurement schedule — where to buy them, how to order them, pack size, item number, etc.,” he said. From there, stores receive prep instructions, cooking steps and photos of the finished dish.
Then come the “Biscuit Buddies,” a set of build cards designed to make assembly fast and consistent across roles.
“It’s a quick little visual — kind of cartoony — of how the build should be,” Coulter said. “So it’s biscuit, and then all the toppings.”
The point is speed and consistency: fewer judgment calls in the moment, fewer variations store to store, and less stress on training when something new rolls out.
Even with the right tools, Biscuit Belly still pressure-tests ideas through a practical filter: Does it sell? Is it easy to execute? Will it create waste?
Coulter said they’ve learned to evaluate performance by mix rather than just raw volume. “For a food item, if it’s greater than 5% of our product mix, that’s pretty good,” he said. “And same with drinks — 7% or 8% or more, those would be wins.”
Interestingly, he said beverages often outperform food in limited runs. “Our LTO drinks actually typically sell a lot better than the food,” Coulter said. “It’s more approachable and easier.”
That data helps the brand keep its seasonal lineup current without becoming trend-chasing. Coulter was blunt about some popular lanes that simply don’t fit. “There are some food trends that we just don’t care about,” he said, adding, “I’m not a big matcha fan. Sorry.”
Instead, the brand aims for relevance with restraint — seasonal flavors rooted in the South, a cadence that’s long enough to justify training, and marketing that keeps the message simple.
Seasonal items rotate on in-store digital boards, get highlighted in social content, and are pushed through loyalty channels, including “text messaging, push notifications and emails.”
In a crowded brunch category, none of this is meant to be revolutionary. It’s meant to be dependable and repeatable for operators. For Coulter, the point isn’t novelty for novelty’s sake. It’s staying present with guests — and giving franchisees a repeatable playbook they can run without breaking operations.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/biscuit-belly.
Biscuit Belly Franchising
SPONSORED
Biscuit Belly treats LTOs as a system, not a stunt, using tight ops, simple builds and steady testing to keep menus fresh while staying true to the brand.
Seasonal menus are easy to do badly — a new item shows up, gets a quick burst of attention, and quietly vanishes before stores ever know if it was worth the effort. Biscuit Belly takes a different route, treating limited-time features as a repeatable process built to keep guests interested without drifting from who the brand is.
“We try to have fun with it,” said Chad Coulter, founder and CEO of the fast-growing breakfast-and-brunch franchise. “We try to do things that are popular, but that may not be overdone.”
That line is the North Star. Coulter says the team deliberately avoids flavors that feel saturated, even when they’re the obvious seasonal play. “We try to stay away from pumpkin things because we feel like that’s a little ubiquitous these days,” he said, pointing instead to a fall menu built around sweet potato pancakes paired with “a salted butter and a bourbon maple.”
The goal isn’t to zig for the sake of zigging. It’s to stay recognizable. Coulter describes the brand’s seasonal lens as an extension of what Biscuit Belly already is — Southern comfort food with a playful edge — rather than a reason to become something else entirely.
“We try not to diverge too much from who we are and what we already have on our menu,” he said. “We try to stay true to our biscuit selves, so to speak.”
That boundary matters once you’re operating as a franchise. A seasonal feature can’t be clever only in the test kitchen — it has to land in every unit. If the rollout isn’t simple, it turns into extra labor, extra waste and a hit to profits.
For each launch, Coulter says the team builds an execution system that starts well before the first guest sees the menu. “For every item we have a detailed procurement schedule — where to buy them, how to order them, pack size, item number, etc.,” he said. From there, stores receive prep instructions, cooking steps and photos of the finished dish.
Then come the “Biscuit Buddies,” a set of build cards designed to make assembly fast and consistent across roles.
“It’s a quick little visual — kind of cartoony — of how the build should be,” Coulter said. “So it’s biscuit, and then all the toppings.”
The point is speed and consistency: fewer judgment calls in the moment, fewer variations store to store, and less stress on training when something new rolls out.
Even with the right tools, Biscuit Belly still pressure-tests ideas through a practical filter: Does it sell? Is it easy to execute? Will it create waste?
Coulter said they’ve learned to evaluate performance by mix rather than just raw volume. “For a food item, if it’s greater than 5% of our product mix, that’s pretty good,” he said. “And same with drinks — 7% or 8% or more, those would be wins.”
Interestingly, he said beverages often outperform food in limited runs. “Our LTO drinks actually typically sell a lot better than the food,” Coulter said. “It’s more approachable and easier.”
That data helps the brand keep its seasonal lineup current without becoming trend-chasing. Coulter was blunt about some popular lanes that simply don’t fit. “There are some food trends that we just don’t care about,” he said, adding, “I’m not a big matcha fan. Sorry.”
Instead, the brand aims for relevance with restraint — seasonal flavors rooted in the South, a cadence that’s long enough to justify training, and marketing that keeps the message simple.
Seasonal items rotate on in-store digital boards, get highlighted in social content, and are pushed through loyalty channels, including “text messaging, push notifications and emails.”
In a crowded brunch category, none of this is meant to be revolutionary. It’s meant to be dependable and repeatable for operators. For Coulter, the point isn’t novelty for novelty’s sake. It’s staying present with guests — and giving franchisees a repeatable playbook they can run without breaking operations.
To find out more information on costs to buy this franchise, please visit https://1851franchise.com/biscuit-belly.
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