And just like that, they were gone.
A handful of months ago, I was peppered with a series of emails from people who work in and around Downtown Savannah. One of their favorite spots, Rise Biscuits, had closed. There was no “Thanks for the memories, but we are out of here” type sign on the door, there was no sign of the space being cleared out. It was just closed. As in, not open. Ever. When I stopped by briefly to take a peek for myself, there was nothing going on and a pile of mail on the floor just inside of their glass doors.
Given that Rise was a franchise, I chose not to give chase. If you recall, we had a flurry of closures during the Summer of 2023. Another food spot closing on Broughton Street just didn’t move the needle much. Especially given the fact that I only popped in on Rise maybe once or twice since they opened in 2017. Don’t get me wrong, I very much love me a well-made chicken biscuit for breakfast, but they aren’t the most healthy option. I usually save those rodeo calories for something else.
Fast forward four months and an email rolls in to Eat It and Like It World Headquarters reminding me to celebrate National Biscuit Week next week (May 13-18) at Rise on Broughton Street.
I was amused, but figured there had to have been some mistake. I thought someone forgot to take lil’ ol Savannah off of their mailing list. I reached into my bag of tricks, pulled out a 2mg dose of sarcasm and fired back.
“Would love to, but they closed months ago.” I said.
Ten minutes later the response came “No! They re-opened about a month ago.”
You don’t say? Well, then can someone explain to me just what the heck happened there?
Less than an hour later, I was on the phone with Ken Priest, one of the corporate owners of Rise. I figured that would be the best way to get to the bottom of this apparent winter hiatus.
“The Savannah market has been good for Rise Southern Biscuits.” Priest said. “The franchise owner was involved in a few other things there in Savannah and ultimately decided to focus on that.”
“We (Rise Corporate) took it over but couldn’t get all of the paperwork done in time, so we had to close for a little bit. About four months.” Priest said.
Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken is back on Broughton. They have been for a few weeks.
‘We took the opportunity to change a few things.” Priest says, adding that this is their first corporate store outside of the state of North Carolina. There are 24 or so across the US with plans for three more later this year alone.
“Being a corporate store gives us the chance to try a few new things.” “For example, we’ve changed our catering menu a little bit. We used to require a minimum of 24 biscuits for a catering order, which upset some people. Now we can do it for six.”
Priest also mentioned a Chicken Tender box that wasn’t on the menu before. It’s more of a lunch item, but so are a few other things on their menu. Including a vegetarian option, though I might back off on the name ‘tree hugger.’ It’s not as cute as it was, say, 20 years ago. But what do I know. The donuts are still there as well, though not as ‘on display’ as they had been before.
All of it is on the grab and go side of things at Rise Biscuits. There is no indoor seating, but a few tables on the Broughton Street sidewalk. Perfect when it isn’t 130 in the shade.
My ‘welcome back’ chicken biscuit was good and fairly priced at $6.95. It may come in handy on one of those rare occasions I’m running down Broughton in desperate need of said biscuit.
As I mentioned previously, we usually don’t burn a lot of ink on chain restaurants around here, but there was some buzz about this when it closed, not to mention it sits at the heart of town near the intersection of Bull and Broughton.
All rise! The biscuits are back.
This article appears in Connect Savannah I April 2024.
Good to know. Thank y’all.