McDonough, get ready to set an extra plate at the table.
The Flying Biscuit Café — Atlanta’s all-day breakfast staple since 1993 — is headed to Henry County. And the person bringing it here already knows the menu by heart. Keisha Carter has been ordering the shrimp and grits for years. Now she’s opening the restaurant.
A hometown gap, filled by a hometown fan
Henry County has been growing fast. The population climbed from 203,922 people in 2010 to 240,712 by the 2020 census, and the U.S. Census Bureau puts it at 264,922 today. McDonough, the county seat, sits right off I-75 about 30 miles southeast of Atlanta — close enough to feel connected, far enough to need its own breakfast spot.
Carter lives in the market, and she’s watched that growth outpace the area’s sit-down breakfast and brunch options for a while now. That’s the gap she’s stepping into.
Meet the team behind the counter
Carter spent nearly a decade in sales, business development and operations, including roles at several Fortune 500 companies before she went out on her own. She’s got an MBA in finance and is a Six Sigma Black Belt, and she currently runs operations, marketing and strategy for a metro Atlanta real estate group. She knows how to run something well — now she’s running a Flying Biscuit.
She’s not doing it alone, either. Her husband and her cousin are building it with her, and it’s a project that carries some real weight for the family:
“What makes this journey especially meaningful is that we get to do it as a family. After losing my mom in 2022, there’s something incredibly special about building this next chapter alongside my husband and my cousin, who shared such a close relationship with her. We’re excited to welcome the McDonough community into what we hope will feel like an extension of our own family.”
Joining Carter as operating partner is Eric Gladmon, who’s spent more than 30 years owning and running an Atlanta salon. That kind of staying power comes with knowing how to keep a business running smoothly day in and day out — exactly what a new café needs behind the scenes.
What’s on the menu
The McDonough café will carry the full Flying Biscuit lineup — biscuits, shrimp and grits, omelets, vegan scrambles, burgers, wraps, all served all day — plus full-service catering. Biscuits strong enough to end a family debate over who makes them best. Carter’s already thinking about the catering side too, with Henry County’s schools, Piedmont Henry Hospital, local colleges, corporate offices and community organizations all on her list of who she’d like to feed next.
Why it matters for Atlanta’s backyard
“Atlanta is where this brand started, and we’re still filling in pieces of the metro — Henry County is one of them,” said Andrew Scherzer, partner and director of franchise development for Flying Biscuit Franchising. “Keisha spent years wishing there were a Flying Biscuit closer to home, and now she’s the one bringing it. Operators who come to us as guests first tend to get the details right.”
McDonough will join a footprint that now includes 43 open cafés and 13 more in development across Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Texas and Missouri. The site and opening date will be announced separately — but the biscuits are officially on their way.
Thinking about bringing Flying Biscuit to your own neighborhood?
Carter’s story started the way a lot of ours do — as a regular who kept wondering why there wasn’t one closer to home. If that sounds familiar, fill out our contact form and let’s talk about what a Flying Biscuit could look like in your community.
