Tudor’s Biscuit World Opens in Marlinton

The long anticipated opening of the new Tudor’s Biscuit World restaurant in Marlinton has finally happened. What appeared to be a finished Biscuit World building has sat at 221 8th Street since early spring, with a banner proclaiming Tutor’s would soon open. Well, on Monday, September 12th the business did open, becoming the 74th Tudor’s Biscuit World, the newest one for the West Virginia based fast food franchise.

Zach Chittum, the owner of the new franchise, took the time to sit down with us on Biscuit World’s opening day. Zach told us about how he came to open a Biscuit World here in Marlinton. He noted that he had owned the building that previously stood on the site until it was destroyed in the November 2013 fire. Originally he looked to build an office building on the site, and placed a sign at the site seeking businesses willing to lease office space there if that building was completed. Well, a year or so went by without any receiving any interest in that, so Zach began looking at other options.

Zach met with a friend of his who used to be the national CEO of Tudors at the Tudor’s Biscuit World in Lewisburg and they felt that the Tudor’s brand would fit in perfectly in Marlinton. So Zach contacted Tudor’s and applied for and was approved for a franchise here in Marlinton.

Zach talked about their menu, which of course includes biscuits made from scratch served with many combinations of meats and cheese and traditional breakfasts like pancakes, eggs, Canadian bacon and shaved ham. Zach explains other breakfast items available.

“We have the Country Breakfasts, Super Breakfasts, so a very large array of breakfast menu items” said Zach. “We also have a lunch menu and a dinner menu. We are serving breakfast and lunch right now from 5 to 2 and after we are open for a month or two, we are going to go into dinner, but we want to make sure our staff is trained. We want to be able to handle the volume efficiently.”

Zach talks about the advantages to being a Tudor’s franchise.

“The restaurant (Tudor’s) has been around for about 50 years. They have their own recipes” said Zach. “So one good thing about Tudors about Tudor’s is they got menu items and recipes that have been successful for 50 years, and we’re just trying to duplicate them.”

So how many employees work at Tudor’s?

“Right now we have 15” Zach. “We expect that to go up to 20 to 25 once we’re on the full dinner and get everything ironed out with our scheduling.”

Are most local?

“Yep, all of them are” Zach answered.

Zach explained that the delay in getting the restaurant opened was due to a number of factors. A lot of the materials and specialized equipment have to be brought in from out of the area. Also getting skilled workers up here in the mountains was difficult and time consuming because they had to wait until those skilled people could fit this project into their schedule. He also said they had some design problems involving the electrical which slowed them down.

So how has Tudor’s Corporate been to work with?

“They’ve been very well” Zach says. “They’re very educated on food and preparation and staffing and putting the right type of equipment in the restaurants. Our staff has also been training in various stores prior to us opening. Tudor’s has been really good and they have a good system. We’re just trying to follow their direction.”

Finally, how did opening day go?

“It’s gone really well” said Zach. “We’re very happy with the amount of people who were in here. We’re happy to be part of the community, and are looking forward to giving people a good breakfast, lunch and dinner experience.”

Zach is not finished helping to rejuvenate downtown Marlinton either. He plans on building some upscale one bedroom apartments on the second floor of the restaurant and also will have about 1000 square feet of retail space available next door to Tudor’s.

 

 

 

 

 

Story By

Tim Walker

Tim is the WVMR News Reporter. Tim is a native of Maryland who started coming to Pocahontas County in the 1970’s as a caver. He bought land on Droop Mountain off Jacox Road in 1976 and built a small house there in the early 80’s. While still working in Maryland, Tim spent much time at his place which is located on the Friars Hole Cave Preserve. Retiring in 2011 as a Lieutenant with the Anne Arundel County Police Department in Maryland, Tim finally took the plunge and moved from Maryland to his real home on Droop Mountain. He began working as the Pocahontas County Reporter for Allegheny Mountain Radio in January of 2015.

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