Katy’s First Flying Biscuit Café Is Coming to Mason Road
Katy’s breakfast and brunch scene appears poised to gain another recognizable name, this time with roots stretching back more than three decades to a small Atlanta neighborhood café.
Flying Biscuit Café, the Atlanta-born restaurant known for its signature biscuits, creamy grits and Southern-inspired all-day breakfast menu, is tied to a planned 3,822-square-foot restaurant buildout at Mason Knolls Shopping Center, 1660 S. Mason Road in Katy, according to newly available project information.
The development adds an important piece to a Flying Biscuit franchise announcement made Monday, Aug. 24. Industry publication FSR Magazine reported that Houston-area residents and longtime Flying Biscuit customers Mario and Ifeoma Harper had signed an agreement to open the brand’s first Katy café, although the company had not publicly announced a site at the time of that report. A separate pending alcohol-license filing also identifies The Flying Biscuit Cafe at 1660 S. Mason Road under MI Harper Katy Brunch LLC, providing another connection between the franchise and the Mason Road property.
For residents on Katy’s east side and along the busy Mason Road corridor, the project could mean a new nearby option for everything from a weekday breakfast to a leisurely weekend brunch — without having to travel to Flying Biscuit’s existing cafés elsewhere around Greater Houston.
$450,000 Restaurant Buildout Planned on South Mason Road
Construction documents describe a $450,000 renovation and tenant buildout at Mason Knolls Shopping Center. Work is scheduled to begin Oct. 1, 2026, with an anticipated completion date of Dec. 1, 2026.
Plans call for interior demolition followed by construction of the restaurant’s partitions, finishes, restrooms, kitchen and millwork, along with HVAC, plumbing, electrical and fire-sprinkler work. The 3,822-square-foot space is classified for restaurant assembly use.
The construction timeline should not be interpreted as an official Flying Biscuit Café opening date. Restaurant openings can depend on construction, inspections, hiring, permitting and other operational steps, and the company had not announced an opening date as of Aug. 24.
Still, the South Mason Road location would put Flying Biscuit squarely within an established residential and retail area of Katy, giving nearby families another breakfast and brunch restaurant along a corridor already woven into residents’ daily errands, school-day routines and weekend plans.
Katy Franchise Began With Two Regular Customers
The people bringing Flying Biscuit to Katy already knew the restaurant well before becoming franchisees.
According to FSR Magazine, Mario and Ifeoma Harper have been regular customers at the Flying Biscuit Café in Memorial City for years. After considering several restaurant concepts, the Houston-area couple chose Flying Biscuit, citing both the brand’s support structure and what they saw as an opportunity in their own community.
Mario Harper is an attorney and entrepreneur whose background includes supply chain, small-business investment and real estate. Ifeoma Harper has spent 25 years in commercial banking, working with middle-market and corporate clients on capital strategy and growth.
“We chose Flying Biscuit because it’s a truly special breakfast concept — those fluffy biscuits and bold, comforting flavors that people genuinely come back for,” Mario Harper said. “We’re most excited to bring that warm, satisfying experience to Katy and make it a neighborhood favorite — a go-to spot for brunch on the weekend and breakfast the rest of the week.”
That neighborhood focus is particularly fitting for a restaurant brand whose story began in much the same way.
From an Atlanta Neighborhood Café to More Than 30 Locations
Flying Biscuit Café opened its first restaurant in Candler Park on Atlanta’s east side in 1993. The fledgling café sold out of its signature biscuits by 11 a.m. on its first day, according to the company.
More than 30 years later, Flying Biscuit says it has grown to 34 locations across Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas, while continuing to center its concept around Southern-inspired comfort food and a neighborhood-café atmosphere. The company says an individual restaurant bakes nearly 5,000 biscuits per week, illustrating just how central the namesake item remains to the brand.
Rather than operating as a traditional diner with late-night hours, Flying Biscuit focuses primarily on breakfast, brunch and lunch. Most Houston-area cafés currently operate from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on weekdays and until 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
That daytime format has helped the brand build much of its identity around morning meals and weekend brunch — two dining occasions that have become increasingly social as families and friends look for gathering places beyond the traditional lunch or dinner outing.
What Is on the Flying Biscuit Café Menu?
For anyone searching for breakfast or brunch in Katy, the Flying Biscuit menu offers considerably more than its namesake baked goods.
The restaurant is particularly known for its biscuits and Creamy Dreamy Grits, along with shrimp and grits, omelets, stuffed French toast and other Southern-inspired breakfast plates. The menu also reaches beyond traditional breakfast with burgers, wraps and lunch selections, while vegan scrambles and other options broaden the choices for diners with different preferences.
Flying Biscuit’s Houston-area website highlights dishes ranging from French toast and breakfast tacos to chicken, egg and cheese biscuits, gravy biscuits, breakfast burgers and its signature grits. Many locations also offer cocktails geared toward the brunch crowd.
That combination is part of what separates Flying Biscuit from a standard biscuit shop. Despite the name, it operates as a full-service café built around an expansive breakfast-and-brunch menu rather than a quick-service bakery concept.
Flying Biscuit Has Been Expanding Across Greater Houston
Katy would join a Flying Biscuit presence that has steadily spread across the Houston region since the company entered the market.
Flying Biscuit opened its Memorial City café in September 2019, marking the brand’s arrival in Houston. It has since expanded to five operating Greater Houston locations: Memorial City, East Downtown Houston, Kingwood, Richmond and Cypress.
The current locations include:
- Memorial City at 12389 Kingsride Lane in Houston
- East Downtown at 2404 Navigation Blvd.
- Kingwood at 4329 Kingwood Drive
- Richmond at 10310 W. Grand Parkway S. in Harvest Green Shopping Center
- Cypress at 12020 FM 1960 Road in Windermere Village Shopping Center
The brand is also preparing a Magnolia café at 5667 FM 1488, which is scheduled to open in the fourth quarter of 2026, as reported previously by My Neighborhood News. An Abilene restaurant is listed for the first quarter of 2027.
For Flying Biscuit, Katy fills a notable geographic gap between its Richmond restaurant to the south and Cypress location to the north. FSR Magazine specifically pointed to Katy’s population growth, family traffic and weekend routines as factors that make the market a logical fit for the concept.
What Happens Next for Flying Biscuit Café in Katy
The coming months should bring a clearer picture of the restaurant’s opening plans as work progresses at Mason Knolls Shopping Center.
If the currently listed construction schedule holds, the buildout would run from early October through Dec. 1. An official grand opening date, restaurant hours, hiring details and any Katy-specific menu or bar offerings have not yet been announced.
What is increasingly clear, however, is that Flying Biscuit’s Katy expansion is moving beyond the franchise-agreement stage. Between the planned restaurant buildout and a licensing filing tied to the same South Mason Road address, residents now have their strongest indication yet of where those familiar biscuits, grits and weekend brunches are headed.
For a growing part of Katy, that could soon put another Greater Houston breakfast favorite considerably closer to home.
Stay tuned to My Neighborhood News for updates on the Flying Biscuit Café Katy location, construction progress, opening plans and other new restaurants and businesses coming to the Katy area.
Tiffany Krenek has been on the My Neighborhood News team since August 2021. She is passionate about curating and sharing content that enriches the lives of our readers in a personal, meaningful way. A loving mother and wife, Tiffany and her family live in the West Houston/Cypress region.Do you own a business?
