Moe Buys Flying Biscuit

The AJC reports that Raving Brands, the Atlanta parent of Moe's, Mama Fu's, Doc Green's and Shane's Rib Shack, has purchased the two Flying Biscuit restaurants and plans a massive expansion of the concept. The current plan is to open 50 franchises in 2007 and another 50 in 2008. As with most Raving Brands concepts, look for the openings to heavy up on the Atlanta market at first with reported possible locations in Downtown, Decatur, Sandy Springs, and Cumberland Galleria. The full article can be found here.

I, for one, do not like the news of this at all. I can see the attraction for Raving Brands to take an extremely popular local concept and re-create it en masse. But as an Atlanta native and food lover, we need more popular independent holes like Flying Biscuit, not less. I like the fact that if you want to do something special, you actually make the drive to Candler Park and wait in the line on a Sunday morning. Walking through the new intown developments like Atlantic Station and the Edgewood Retail District, it seems this town has lost all sense of individuality and creativty. Every restaurant is some form of chain, with Raving Brands being just about everywhere. Even the non-chains are cookie-cutter reproductions of other restaurants within a portfolio (Strip).

I was planning on going to Goldfish tonight with the wife, but after reading this news, we are having a change of plans. Not sure where yet, but it will be someplace where it's a sole owner's only establishment.