Latrell Hayes, Kip Barber And Randy Barnes Bring Flying Biscuit To St. Charles

The Flying Biscuit Cafe has signed a lease for its first St. Louis-area restaurant, with franchise partners Latrell Hayes, Kennon "Kip" Barber and Randy Barnes preparing to bring the Atlanta-born breakfast and brunch brand to St. Charles, Missouri. The company announced on 5 August that the cafe will be located at 1016 S 5th Street in St. Charles, near Interstate 70 and Lindenwood University.

The announcement says the location brings the brand to Missouri for the first time. An opening date has not yet been announced. Real estate representation was provided by New Growth Realty for the franchisees and Pace Properties for the property.

This is a local-operator story as much as a brand expansion story. Hayes, Barber and Barnes chose a site in a part of the market they already know, and the public announcement describes Hayes and Barber as experienced multi-unit restaurant operators with a record of building high-performing teams and consistent operations. That background matters because breakfast and brunch franchising can be deceptively complex. Daypart limits can be attractive, but they also concentrate execution into a shorter operating window where service speed, kitchen rhythm, table turns and local reputation have to work quickly.

Hayes said the site is right off I-70, down the street from Lindenwood University and in a community that already appreciates breakfast. Those details are useful because site selection is one of the most practical franchise decisions a local operator makes. A brunch brand benefits from visibility, weekend traffic, weekday breakfast routines, student and family activity, and a surrounding neighborhood that can support repeat visits. St. Charles gives the franchisees a mix of local residents, university activity, commuters and destination traffic.

Flying Biscuit's franchise proposition is built around all-day breakfast and comfort food with a twist, spanning items such as stuffed French toast, shrimp and grits, omelets, vegan scrambles, burgers, wraps and brunch cocktails at many locations. For franchise operators, that menu breadth can help widen the customer base, but it also requires tight kitchen execution. A brand known for food quality cannot expand on name recognition alone.

The Missouri entry also speaks to the current restaurant franchise market. Operators are still looking for concepts with differentiated dayparts, clear brand identity and a customer experience that does not feel interchangeable with every other fast-casual or full-service restaurant. Breakfast and brunch have remained resilient because they serve social occasions, family routines and affordable indulgence. But the category is crowded, and franchisees have to earn local loyalty quickly.

The founder-story angle here is local enterprise rather than corporate invention. Hayes, Barber and Barnes are using the franchise model to bring an established concept into a new market. That is one of the core reasons franchising exists: local owners can pair market knowledge and operating experience with a brand that already has menu development, training and identity. If the St. Charles cafe performs, it could give Flying Biscuit a stronger platform for further Missouri growth.

For Franchise Market News readers, the takeaway is straightforward. Expansion headlines often focus on unit counts, but the quality of the local operator and the logic of the site are what determine whether a market debut becomes sustainable. Flying Biscuit now has a Missouri lease, named franchise partners and a high-visibility St. Charles corridor. The next test is turning that lease into a restaurant that feels local from the first morning it opens.

"A brand known for food quality cannot expand on name recognition alone."