Akron-area business partners bring first Vicious Biscuit franchise ever to Montrose

The name Vicious Biscuit grabs your attention.

In late March, the Akron area will become home to the first franchise ever for the southern fast-casual biscuit restaurant, which was founded in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2018.

Local business partners Carl Albright, Kent Troutman, Dave Ost and Curtis Fox were so impressed with the Vicious Biscuit brand, they're opening its first franchise in Copley at the Montrose Centre location formerly inhabited by Bomba Taco + Bar.

"The first thing you notice when you go there, there's a line out the door," Albright said of Vicious Biscuit locations in Charleston.

Albright, a Medina resident and former president and CEO of InfoCision, said he and Copley resident Ost had talked about opening some kind of franchise together. Albright's sister, Carol Eastman, turned him on to Vicious Biscuit in Charleston, where she eats a keto bowl for breakfast every day.

Ost and Troutman flew down to Charleston with Albright last March to meet with the Vicious Biscuit franchise team. By the end of that visit, both Ost and Troutman told Albright they were all in as franchise co-owners.

The three men had previously worked together at InfoCision, where Troutman was formerly vice president of operations. He now owns a landscaping company in Chagrin Falls. Albright owns the consulting firm Client First Consulting Group.

Ost, the partner who has prior experience running a restaurant, owns New York Bagel Deli in Medina as well as the executive search company Ost Search Partners. Albright and Fox also have a construction partnership. Norton resident Fox, owner of Fox Brothers Construction, is the general contractor for Vicious Biscuit in Montrose.

Copley's Vicious Biscuit is slated to open in late March. Hours will be 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday and 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

The four local partners have signed a six-restaurant deal to open five additional Vicious Biscuits in Summit, Medina and Cuyahoga counties. Locations will be announced at a later date.

More: Meow Bao in Highland Square closes: Owners spread thin with new Square Scullery opening

Vicious Biscuit not any old breakfast spot

Vicious Biscuit eateries have a youthful energy and will offer something new, fresh and different for local breakfast-goers, Albright said.

"The vibe felt very different than an older-school breakfast place that you would normally go to," Albright said.

The menu includes seven varieties of biscuit entrees, featuring chicken, pulled pork, ham, shrimp, lump crab cake or fried green tomatoes. Vicious Biscuit also offers a signature sweet potato waffle.

The restaurant's appeal is its elaborately different takes on chicken and biscuits, the co-owners said.

The Fat Boy is a buttermilk biscuit with fried chicken breast, pimento cheese and spicy honey drizzle, while the Flame Thrower features a cheddar and jalapeño biscuit and fried chicken breast with Frank's Red Hot, white cheddar, spicy remoulade, candied bacon and house "cowboy candy" (tequila pickled jalapenos). The Vicious is a cheddar and jalapeño biscuit with fried chicken breast, maple sausage gravy, house cowboy candy and maple syrup drizzle.

"Every order is A, made from scratch, and B, made to order," Ost said.

Healthier options are an oatmeal power bowl, Vicious yogurt bowl, keto bowl or egg white omelet.

Other southern classics are beignets, sweet puppies (deep-fried sweet potato dough balls with powdered sugar and white chocolate custard), shrimp and grits and signature jams and house-made butters.

Vicious Biscuit also offers cocktails, including Bloody Marys, mimosas and more. Fresh-squeezed orange juice, coffees and, of course, sweet tea also are on the beverage menu.

The restaurant doesn't have a diner look, Albright said. Vicious Biscuit has a trendier and more upscale look.

The restaurants feature modern wood accents and have music playing all the time. The Copley location will feature signs saying, "Stay Vicious Rubber City" and "Biscuits are King in the South." On the latter, the words "the South" are crossed out to say Akron, Ohio.

Business partner Troutman is now spending three weeks in Charleston training with Vicious Biscuit, where he was making biscuits for the first time Thursday.

So for four partners used to running their own businesses, what's it like to open a franchise?

"The amount of attention that Vicious Biscuit gives us to help us is immense," Albright said. "They have been wonderful all the way around."

The Montrose restaurant is currently in full renovation mode. That included taking down the Bomba sign and installing a new Vicious Biscuit sign on the building Thursday.

Vicious Biscuit will seat 170 at booths and tables, which include several community tables. A separate room behind the jam bar, where customers get their condiments, will be available as a party room or for business meetings or overflow seating.

Restaurant known to have lines out the door

Another thing that's impressive about Vicious Biscuit is there's always a line out the door, even in cold weather, Albright said.

At this restaurant, customers order at the counter, get their drinks, get a number for the table and are served at the table. The average customer stay is 39 minutes.

Customers pick their biscuit condiments from the jam bar, including chocolate, caramel, honey, jelly, jams, preserves and butters.

It took Albright and Ost six months to find their Copley location, which fit all of the corporate requirements: must be in a strip mall, be in an end unit and have a patio.

More: 'Cher Show' tour, playing Akron next week, has Northeast Ohio native conducting in pit

The new owners plan to hire a minimum of 25 people, half of whom will work in the kitchen. Albright's 20-year-old son, Griffin, a business and entrepreneurship student at the University of Akron, will be a big part of the business, Albright said.

To learn about hiring for all positions, call Troutman at 330-472-1940.

Vicious Biscuit has six corporate-owned locations in North and South Carolina as well as Florida, with one more coming soon in Columbia, South Carolina.

The company has seven franchise deals in the works, with Northeast Ohio's being the first. Others are planned in Indiana, Mississippi, Washington, Florida and Utah.

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Local owners opening fast-casual spot Vicious Biscuit in Copley, Ohio