Rise Southern Biscuits & Righteous Chicken is the fastest growing chicken and biscuit franchise in the nation serving up fresh award-winning Southern cuisine, featuring biscuits, chicken, donuts, and comfort food to eager customers. Established in 2012 Rise, now has 16 locations across 7 states and is poised to have over 400 open in the next 10 years. Fred Fordin is a customer turned master franchisee for the state of Tennessee and has enjoyed working with the brand for over 3 years.
Fordin was a customer of Rise Southern Biscuits and Righteous Chicken for several years before becoming a franchisee. He had some luck in the tech industry and started looking for an opportunity that would be a good investment and provide a higher ROI than just sitting in the bank. After researching franchise opportunities, he realized that Rise would be the best place to invest his money. He decided to become the master franchisee for the entire state of Tennessee.
As one of the earlier investors in Rise his journey was not without its hiccups. There was a lot of growing the brand did which resulting in changes to the menu, layout, and equipment needs and even change of hours. These were all necessary growing pains as they allowed founder and CEO Tom Ferguson to rework the brand into a finely tuned machine that would be consistent across all locations without losing any of its deliciousness.
After extensive research Ferguson and his team “realized [the future of QSR] was moving towards online orders and delivery.” Rise leaned into technology and online ordering as they knew it would be necessary for the future. “We had our 3rd party delivery orders go directly into our POS which made printing out orders very efficient. We made these changes by the end of Feb of 2020 and we were in perfect condition when the pandemic hit.”
“The State of Tennessee is lacking in breakfast options in the fast casual space, and I felt Rise was the perfect concept to bring to the area,” says franchisee Fred Fordin. “Rise is a homerun in any environment. Even with the decrease in tourism, the locals still want their chicken biscuit delivered right to their home.”
His two locations in Nashville and Germantown, Tennessee, have managed to maintain momentum and growth through the COVID-19 pandemic. This is due, in part, to the Rise rebranding initiative. Fordin is looking for his third location and for franchisees to sign under his master deal. He has studied the state extensively and knows Tennessee can hold 15 Rise locations comfortably.
Check out this video of Fred Fordin explaining why Rise is a great investment: https://youtu.be/YWlXEltVt8s