Are biscuit restaurants the next hot trend?

Cracker Barrel’s recent confirmation of plans to enter the fast-casual market with a venture called Holler & Dash is another sign the next wave of hot restaurants could be a basketful of biscuit concepts.

Observers in Cracker Barrel’s hometown of Lebanon, Tenn., noted the cursory description of Holler & Dash could have easily fit a popular restaurant in nearby Nashville called Biscuit Love. The one-off features biscuit-based dishes ranging in price at breakfast from $8 (smoked sausage, one egg and cheddar cheese) to $10 (shaved ham, two eggs and sausage gravy). The highest-price lunch item is a burger served on a biscuit for $11.

Specialties include the Ham Bar, a sampler of local hams from four curers, served with biscuits, hot honey and pimiento cheese for $11 an order.

The place started as a food truck. It is closed for dinner, but breakfast and lunch patrons can stock up on takeout biscuits—at $3 each.

It’s not the only Southern-style concept that’s using biscuits as a point of differentiation. Here’s a look at some of the others, starting with what’s known about Holler & Dash.

Cracker Barrel has been very guarded in discussing its venture, which has been in the works for months. But it has revealed the menu will be “chef-driven,” and only breakfast, lunch and brunch will be served. “The biscuit is the hero, but the flavor possibilities are endless,” teases the announcement.

Both sweet and savory riffs on biscuits will be offered.

The prototype is scheduled to open in Homewood, Ala., sometime between mid-March and the end of April, depending on which account you read.

Biscuits and a music motif are blended at this Austin, Texas, food truck. Its signature choices include the $11 Gloria Gaynor, or three biscuits drenched in sausage gravy and topped with three scrambled eggs, thick-sliced peppered bacon and Colby jack cheese. The value-oriented item on the menu is the Bee Gee, a biscuit served with butter and jam for $1.50.

A four-unit chain based in Portland, Ore., the upstart features nine biscuit sandwiches, three types of sausage gravy and biscuits, and a build-your-own-biscuit option. Prices range from $1.50, for a biscuit served with a choice of either cheese or egg, to $8 for premium sandwiches like a steak club, served of course on a biscuit.

Biscuits are also available for take out in half-dozen or full-dozen sizes, for $9 and $16, respectively.
 

After shrinking to just 12 restaurants, the chicken-and-biscuits concept is plotting a comeback. A store is scheduled to open this month in Atlanta as part of two franchise deals calling for the development of six stores in total.

Mrs. Winner’s, which once stretched to nearly 200 stores, was so successful in past decades that it sparked a mini-boom in chicken-and-biscuits concepts, including one that Wendy’s owned, called Sisters.