Flying Biscuit Café brings its delicious all-day breakfast menu to Chapel Hill

Craving fluffy biscuits, creamy grits and delicious waffles? The Flying Biscuit Café has you covered.

The southern-inspired restaurant known for its all-day breakfast menu just made its Chapel Hill debut. The Flying Biscuit Café had its grand opening in University Place on Jan. 31.   

“We look forward to serving the beautiful community of Chapel Hill,” operating partner Tahir Rafiq said.

As professionals with more than 15 years of experience in the restaurant industry, Rafiq and his wife Zinnia had always dreamed of running their own restaurant. After some research, they decided to open the Flying Biscuit Café in Chapel Hill.

“Chapel Hill has a lot of potential,” Rafiq said. “It was our dream, basically, to open a nice breakfast place for the beautiful community of Chapel Hill.”

Founded in Atlanta in 1993, the Flying Biscuit Café is a national chain famous for its creamy grits and deliciously fluffy biscuits. This new restaurant will be the chain’s fourth North Carolina location.

Although it's known for its all-day breakfast menu, Flying Biscuit Café is the perfect place to grab breakfast, lunch or dinner. The menu features southern staples such as chicken and waffles, fried green tomatoes and shrimp and grits. But its variety of healthy, vegetarian and vegan options make it an inclusive choice for anyone wanting southern-style cuisine.

“We’ve got everything,” Rafiq said.

Rafiq said he thought Chapel Hill was missing a local breakfast restaurant where community members could gather, hang out and eat great food.

“Everyone was looking for some place where they can come to have fun,” Rafiq said. “Whatever breakfast places they have, they are very small – mainly takeout.” 

Rafiq believes this restaurant will be successful because it provides a social atmosphere where customers can enjoy excellent service and delicious food.

The restaurant was originally set to open in November 2021, but due supply chain issues and labor shortages the project was delayed several months.

“It was really tough,” Rafiq said. “But it’s never too late. We were determined.”  

Despite the delays caused by COVID-19, the Flying Biscuit Café is now open for dine-in, delivery, carry-out and catering.

The Flying Biscuit Café kicked off its grand opening week with a series of specials and promotions, including selling its Famous Flying Biscuits for only $1 and giving free Flying Biscuit Café t-shirts and travel mugs to its first 100 customers.

“We got a good response,” Rafiq said. “We are very excited as well as humbled.”

Rafiq and his wife are excited to see their ultimate goal of opening a restaurant come to fruition. 

“We always had a dream to open up our own place,” Rafiq said. “And that dream is coming true.”