Vicious Biscuit, a restaurant group based in Charleston, South Carolina, is opening at 7 a.m. March 20 in Neptune Beach.
It will be at 211 Third St. in the former space of The Loop Restaurant, which closed in July 2021.
It is the sixth Vicious Biscuit restaurant and the first in Florida.
The others are in Mount Pleasant, Summerville and Charleston, South Carolina, and Wilmington and Boone, North Carolina.
A Columbia, South Carolina, location is set to open this year.
The Neptune Beach restaurant is expected to open the week of March 13, Vicious Biscuit COO Michael Ball said during a site visit March 3.
He declined to provide the cost of the build-out.
Vantage Contracting is remodeling the space.
Vicious Biscuit serves breakfast, lunch and brunch from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday-Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. It expects to employ four team leaders and a staff of 20 to 30.
“We are just trying to bring the fun back into brunch,” Ball said.
Vicious Biscuit, formed in late 2018, is a fast-casual concept. Customers order at the counter and are given a number. All items are made to order and the experience usually takes about an hour.
“At some places, it’s a three-hour tour like ‘Gilligan’s Island.’ The long lines at our door can look daunting but they move remarkably fast,” he said.
The restaurant has a full liquor license but does not serve beer or wine.
It has a list of signature vodka-based cocktails: The Vicious Mary, The Vi’Mosa, The Vicious Screwdriver as well as The Southern Sunrise made with Elijah Craig bourbon. Craft cocktails range from $9 to $10.
Traditional mimosas are served by the glass ($7) or carafe ($18).
Vicious Biscuit may have the earliest eye-openers at the Beach.
“We were actually blown away at the number of cocktails that we do move in the mornings,” Ball said.
“We get nurses getting off from third shift. There are stay-at-home moms that have brunch with other stay-at-home moms after they drop off their kids at school.”
It’s common to have business people networking where participants will have a cocktail. During the week the drink of choice is the single mimosa, he said.
The menu revolves around items served on biscuits made in-house from scratch.
The Vicious is a fried chicken breast served with maple syrup on a biscuit. The Fat Boy is a fried chicken breast with pimento cheese and a spicy honey drizzle. Shrimp and grits are served over a biscuit.
Prices range from $11 to $17.
There is a children’s menu as well as a selection of salads and lighter fare.
The company’s owner, George McLaughlin, is from Jacksonville and attended The Bolles School.
All Vicious Biscuit locations are corporately owned, but the company will begin franchising this year. Ball said he expects another six stores to open in the Jacksonville area as well as locations in other Florida metropolitan areas like Orlando and Tampa.
During the coronavirus pandemic, the company knew it had a winner when many of those in lockdown states headed to Charleston, Ball said.
“We were getting inundated left and right from the Northeast, Midwest, Southwest. Everybody wanted this in their town. We had franchise requests from New Zealand, Alaska, San Diego, Indianapolis, Columbus and the New England area. That was the kind of determining factor that we couldn’t ignore,” he said.