The Big Biscuit has signed a new franchise development agreement with Steve Zahn, the person who became the brand's very first franchisee back in 2020 and has been its largest operator ever since. The new agreement builds on an existing Oklahoma development commitment that already called for eleven locations in the state, extending Zahn's footprint further as The Big Biscuit closes in on 40 restaurants system-wide.
Zahn brings more than 30 years of multi-unit restaurant operating experience to the partnership, and his current Oklahoma locations span cities including Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Edmond. Beyond running restaurants, Zahn has built a local reputation through community work tied directly to the brand, launching Stuff the Bus, a school supply donation drive that started in Oklahoma in 2023 and became a brand-wide initiative the following year, along with Pajama Jam, a holiday pajama collection effort for children in need.
Chad Offerdahl, President and Co-CEO of The Big Biscuit, has previously credited Zahn's passion for the brand and dedication to the communities he serves as exactly the kind of qualities the company looks for in a franchise partner, calling the relationship a reflection of the kind of sustainable, franchisee-first growth the brand is trying to build.
The new Zahn agreement lands amid a broader stretch of growth for The Big Biscuit beyond its home base in the Kansas City area. Founded in 2000 as a single restaurant in Independence, Missouri, the brand has expanded to nearly 40 locations across Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, with recent development agreements bringing the concept to new markets including Wichita, Kansas, and Columbia, Missouri.
As franchisees like Zahn keep adding locations across multiple cities, keeping performance consistent from restaurant to restaurant becomes a bigger part of sustaining that growth. Gorilla Dash offers a Benchmarking feature designed to help multi-unit franchise operators track and compare performance data across locations, supporting the kind of steady expansion Zahn has built with The Big Biscuit since becoming its first franchisee.
