Lizzie Royal was more of a biscuit appreciator rather than a biscuit baker — until
she moved from North Carolina to Colorado.
“I just couldn’t get a biscuit,” she said.
The lack of access led to her understanding the beauty of creating the perfect
biscuits.
“It’s a simple process that needs to be followed precisely,” she said. “I’m also a
firm believer in a drop biscuit. … They are fluffier, lighter and they give you
more surface area for sandwiches.”
Now, she makes them for her family on holidays — and for the food-and-wine
events she hosts with her business partner Holly Phillips. That includes their
1 of 9Electric Biscuits pop-ups.
Add in a new biscuit-based food truck serving local coffee shops and breweries,
and the first location of Biscuitville opening in Brunswick County and it’s clear
that biscuits are on the rise in Southeastern North Carolina.
The comforts of tradition
There’s not necessarily anything new about cutting fat into flour, and baking
lofty layered pastry. In fact, the humble biscuit has centuries of history in the
South and in North Carolina.
First, they are a multicultural creation. They evolved from hardtack, a bland
survival food for sailors and the miliary, into a dish influenced by Scottish and
Irish immigrants and African American cooking techniques, which helped
2 of 9 produce their characteristic flakiness.
Now, they are synonymous with comfort.
“Biscuits are part of Southern cooking, like a lot of things they are made
different from region to region, cook to cook, restaurant to restaurant,” said Josh
Petty, chef and owner at Cast Iron Kitchen in Wilmington. “I just believe biscuits
should be light, fluffy and buttery. They should be made with love. A good
biscuit should bring back memories of family and weekend stays at your
grandparents.”
Petty helped put the Wilmington biscuit scene on the national map when he
served one of his signature Dirty South Biscuits to Guy Fieri on “Diners, Drive-
Ins and Dives” in 2018. It’s a house-made biscuit topped with fried chicken,
bacon, a runny egg, cheeses and sausage gravy.
The dish was inspired by his time working at restaurants in Charleston, South Carolina. It was also a special when he was chef at Sweet n Savory Cafe.
“I said to myself when I open my spot, this is going to be the flagship item,”
Petty said.
It’s still the best-selling item on their menu.
Elsewhere in the area, there are specialty shops like The Southerly Biscuit & Pie
in Carolina Beach, where you can get catfish biscuits and biscuits with brûléed
pimento cheese. But just about any breakfast restaurant or bakery in the area,
large or small, will have biscuits on the menu — as a side item with butter and
jelly, served warm from the grill, smothered with sausage gravy or as a base for
Southern Eggs Benedicts.
Baked in business
Local biscuit lovers also likely have their favorites when it comes to fast food
and big brands. Bojangles and Hardee’s are two popular North Carolina-born
brands that have grown to hundreds of locations.
Bojangles was founded in Charlotte in 1977 and now has about 850 locations
serving fried chicken, scratch-made biscuits and sweet tea in 23 states. But they
also keep experimenting, like adding a limited-time biscuit-based Blackberry
Cobbler this summer.
More recently, the smaller South Carolina-based Vicious Biscuit opened in The
Forum in Wilmington. They are known for “bold biscuit creations” like the spicy
Flamethrower and the Crab Benny biscuit. The brand was among Fast Casual
magazine’s Top 100 Movers & Shakers in 2024 and 2025.
And earlier this year, another North Carolina brand, Biscuitville, opened its first
Southeastern North Carolina location in Shallotte. One is also in the works for Southport.
Biscuitville’s Chief Restaurant Excellence Officer, Jim McCurley, said one of the
secrets is a North Carolina-sourced soft winter wheat and their particular
flour blend. Every location also prepares food from bacon to pancake batter in
house. And biscuits are made fresh every 15 minutes. People can watch the
process through the “biscuit window.”
McCurley, who helped grow the P.F. Chang’s chain earlier in his career, said
there are now 87 Biscuitville locations, and the company is committed to
growing in a smart way.
“It is a good time for biscuits. It’s a unique carrier. It can be for breakfast, lunch
and dinner and it has a lot of applications,” he said. As he’s crisscrossed the
country, he’s paid attention to how food trends travel.
“There’s a lot of crossover with regional cuisine. We’ve seen California trends
move East, and we’ve seen Northern food move South,” he said. “I think it’s the
South’s turn to migrate north and to the west.”
A rising star
Somewhere along the way, the humble biscuit has morphed from a simple side
item to a vessel for an array of creative sweet-and-savory toppings
like fried chicken, gravy and jam. It’s a sandwich base, a dessert platform, a
brunch centerpiece and bonafide trend.
“You can put anything on a biscuit,” said Josh Hinson, of the Fitz’s Biscuits food
truck, which launched in early 2026.
He and his cousin, Jesse Canady, grew up in Kure Beach and were inspired by
their grandfather Conrad Fitzhue, who sold peaches in Monkey Junction, made
boiled peanuts for local gas stations, and had a food trailer.
They grew up with his favorite, a burger biscuit that’s now available as the Cock-
a-doodle Moo at the truck. The Birdie, named for their grandmother, is a fried
chicken biscuit. So far, they’ve been a hit and they’ve already served thousands of them.
Hinson, a culinary graduate of Cape Fear Community College, said they plan to
eventually expand their menu. He already has more ideas, from pork chops to
classic combos, that will be named for other relatives.
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