--- title: "Southern Breakfast and Brunch Brand The Flying Biscuit Café Is Coming to Greenville, N.C" url: https://burnaze.com/article/c91fdf86-2258-40a1-a8d7-f14e65c7af99 source: "Franchising.com" original_url: https://www.franchising.com/news/20261008_southern_breakfast_and_brunch_brand_the_flying_biscuit_caf_is_coming_to_gre.html category: "Bakery & breakfast" industry: "Restaurants" segment: "Bakery & breakfast" published: 2026-10-08T12:00:00.000Z modified: 2026-10-31T14:43:18.075Z image: https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1561758033-d89a9ad46330?w=1600&q=80&auto=format&fit=crop --- # Southern Breakfast and Brunch Brand The Flying Biscuit Café Is Coming to Greenville, N.C **TL;DR:** The Flying Biscuit Café has signed a franchise agreement for a location in Greenville, N.C., with Viren Patel as the franchisee and sole owner. Patel plans to work in the café day to day and hopes to add locations in the region over the next five years. *originally published in Franchising.com on 2026-10-08. [Read the original](https://www.franchising.com/news/20261008_southern_breakfast_and_brunch_brand_the_flying_biscuit_caf_is_coming_to_gre.html).* ## Story Patel is the franchisee and sole owner of the Greenville café. He holds a master’s degree in chemistry and spent roughly eight years as a multi-unit restaurant franchisee in Canada, running five locations, before moving to the United States in 2015 and buying into gas station and lodging businesses. Flying Biscuit is his first restaurant brand as an owner, and he plans to work in the café day to day. Greenville is the health care, education and commercial hub of eastern North Carolina. The Greenville metro area grew 6.5% between 2020 and 2025, from 173,642 residents to an estimated 182,936, according to U. S. Census Bureau estimates — among the fastest growth rates of any metro in the state. East Carolina University enrolled 27,153 students and employed 6,230 people in fall 2025, its highest enrollment since 2021. ECU Health, headquartered in Greenville, is an academic health system serving more than 1.4 million people across 29 eastern North Carolina counties. Flying Biscuit cafés serve breakfast and lunch only, closing at 3 p. m., a daypart Patel said drew him to the brand. “My daughter is the one who pointed out that we live in the South and this is Southern breakfast done right,” said Viren Patel, Flying Biscuit Café franchisee for Greenville. “I ate at Flying Biscuit six or seven times before I ever filled out an application. Greenville has students, young families, people coming off shift at the hospital and retirees. I want a place where all of them end up at the same tables on a Saturday morning.” Patel said he compared Flying Biscuit against independent breakfast concepts and other franchised cafés before signing, and that the brand’s menu range was the deciding factor. He hopes to add locations in his region over the next five years and has expressed interest in Fayetteville and Jacksonville, N.C., as possible markets beyond his current agreement. “North Carolina has become one of our deeper states, and Greenville is exactly the kind of market we want next — a university, a hospital system and a lot of people who are up early,” said Andrew Scherzer, partner and director of franchise development for Flying Biscuit Franchising. “Viren has run franchised restaurants for other brands and businesses that were entirely his own, so he knows what each one asks of you. He wants to run this one himself, and Greenville is going to get an owner who knows his regulars by name.” A site, opening timeline, café size and hiring plans will be announced once a lease is signed. The Greenville agreement follows a run of recent signings and openings. In North Carolina, Tahir Rafiq and his wife and franchise partner, Zinnia Tahir, signed a lease in North Raleigh for their fourth Flying Biscuit, targeted for the first quarter of 2027. Chris Compton opened his second café in downtown Knoxville, Tenn. , on Sept. 12, after opening the brand’s first Tennessee location in 2025. The brand signed its first Missouri lease in St. Charles, outside St. Louis, in August, the first step under a development agreement covering three cafés. Matt Thomas signed a two-café development agreement for Palm Beach County, Fla. , on Sept. 11, and agreements were signed for Nashville and the Tri-Cities region of Tennessee earlier this fall. ## Entities - Franchising.com (publication) - QSR (sector) - franchise agreement (topic) - restaurant expansion (topic) - location growth (topic) - Greenville (location) - The Flying Biscuit Café (company) - Andrew Scherzer (person) - Chris Compton (person) - breakfast brand (topic) - Matt Thomas (person) - Viren Patel (person) --- Originally reported by Franchising.com (https://www.franchising.com/news/20261008_southern_breakfast_and_brunch_brand_the_flying_biscuit_caf_is_coming_to_gre.html). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/c91fdf86-2258-40a1-a8d7-f14e65c7af99).