Founderology Forum

Real talk, damn good biscuits and growing a national chain

Lauren Coulter is co-Founder and chief biscuit eater of Biscuit Belly, the Louisville, Kentucky, brunch brand she built with her husband and co-Founder, Chad Coulter. Today the brand runs 16 restaurants across seven states, generating more than $23 million in systemwide revenue, and has been franchising since 2020.

August 18, 2026

Lauren Coulter is co-Founder and chief biscuit eater of Biscuit Belly, the Louisville, Kentucky, brunch brand she built with her husband and co-Founder, Chad Coulter. They are two pharmacists who, by her own description, had no business opening restaurants. Today the brand runs 16 restaurants across seven states, generating more than $23 million in systemwide revenue, and has been franchising since 2020.

Lauren is direct, funny and completely unguarded about what it has taken to build Biscuit Belly. She shares her journey the way only a Founder can tell it, decision by decision, from inside the seat.

Before Biscuit Belly there was LouVino, a small-plates and wine bar Lauren and Chad grew to five locations across three states. It was successful, and they sold it, accepting an offer in March 2020. The deciding factor was never sales. It was what the team could actually scale.

Just a few highlights from a fast-moving discussion:

• Why the first brand LouVino was built on design and Biscuit Belly was built with an intentional plan: nine to 12 months developing brand, positioning and menu before a door opened, and somewhere between 80 and 90 names considered. A Founder with passion and a great plan becomes unstoppable.
• What franchising actually costs a Founder who cares about the guest experience, and the one exercise every Founder should run before signing anything.
• Why two experienced leaders out of two large, respected brands were both the wrong fit, and why the people who got them to three stores were not going to be the people who would get them to 50.

The decisions Lauren and Chad made to build a team to scale.

A Founder's dilemma; a brand-new location was ready to open three weeks before its scheduled opening date. Lauren and Chad left it closed rather than open with the wrong leader in place. Choosing three empty weeks is a decision many Founders discuss and few actually make.

This episode is dynamic and insightful and tune in to hear even more answers to questions all Founder's must address when building a company to scale. We recorded this episode before Lauren and Chad announced the acquisition of 35 Maple Street Biscuit Company locations. We wish Lauren, Chad and their entire team all the best as they continue to bring damn good biscuits to the rest of the country.

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