Vicious Biscuit, the award-winning fast-casual breakfast concept and Southern-made originator of bold biscuit creations, officially opened its doors in Hattiesburg, MS on Saturday, April 5. The new 4,200 square-foot location in Midtown Market at 3818 Hardy Street is the 10th store overall and third franchise location. The expansion in Mississippi marks the sixth state for Vicious Biscuit, which currently has locations in South Carolina, North Carolina, Florida, Ohio and Louisiana.
“We are thrilled to officially open our doors to Hattiesburg and bring Vicious Biscuit to Midtown Market,” said Cliff Russum, Vicious Biscuit Mississippi franchise partner. “We are pushing the boundaries for brunch and with a menu that’s tailor-made for Mississippi – it’s our local taste and culture served up in every fork-and-knife biscuit.”
Russum continued, “It’s one thing to find a brand that has a great product and a catchy name; but when that company shares your same value in people the way Vicious Biscuit does, it becomes a special partnership. That’s what we believe we have. This also comes into play from the operations side of the business. Vicious Biscuit’s corporate office team made the path to opening seamless for us. They were there every step of the way and will continue.”
The new Hattiesburg, MS location seats up to 128 patrons inside and 24 patrons outside. Guests are served from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday.
About Local Franchise Partners, Cliff & Hunter Russum
Hailing from the heart of Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the Russum brothers are known in the restaurant scene. Cliff worked for Mugshots, a regional bar and grill franchise, corporate office for nearly five years before collaborating with Hunter as franchisees to three Mugshots locations. While exploring various breakfast concepts for their next venture, they discovered Vicious Biscuit through social media where the brand’s unique, bold charm caught their eye. Their first store visit cemented their decision to become one of the brand’s first franchisees. Now, they’re ready to flip the script on breakfast and bring a biscuit revolution to Mississippi as some of the first mavericks in the concepts franchising family.
“We are thrilled to open this new location in ‘The Hub City’ with our dedicated local Hattiesburg franchise partners, Cliff and Hunter Russum,” says Vicious Biscuit Co-Founder/CEO, George McLaughlin. “Their deep understanding of the local market, combined with their proven success in the restaurant industry, makes them ideal partners for our expansion. We’re confident that our new breakfast hotspot is one that Mississippians will love.”
All Roads Lead to Mississippi
This is also a Mississippi homecoming for McLaughlin, who graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1995 with a B.S. in Business. He also went on to develop and launch the franchise division for McAllister’s Deli, which was founded in Oxford, MS in 1989. Eventually, he moved on to own and operate 18 locations in South Carolina from Apr. 1997 until Nov. 2008.
McLaughlin became co-founder and CEO of Vicious Biscuit in Sept. 2018. Baked up as a Charleston-born business in 2017, the concept’s immediate success propelled a rapid rise as the brand expanded from its Mount Pleasant flagship to seven additional locations in South Carolina, North Carolina, and Florida. Coinciding with its corporate development, Vicious Biscuit opened its first franchise location in Akron, OH (June 2024) and has awarded 47 franchise locations in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia.
Vicious Biscuit is seeking both single- and multi-unit operators to join the ranks of its breakfast revolutionaries across the U.S.
