East Cobb Flying Biscuit opening awaiting alcohol license

On Wednesday the new Flying Biscuit Cafe at the Parkaire Landing Shopping Center announced its opening was “one week out!”

(The restaurant is now saying the doors will open on Monday, March 15, starting at 7 a.m.)

It’s been nearly a year and a half since the popular Atlanta-based breakfast and brunch spot announced its return to East Cobb. Those plans were put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Tuesday, the Cobb Board of Commissioners will take up Flying Biscuit’s appeal of a denial of an alcohol license for beer, wine and Sunday serving.

It’s a routine process that happens frequently with new businesses selling or serving alcohol.

The Cobb County Code has distance requirements for those establishments regarding their location to homes, schools, religious institutions, parks, day care centers, addiction treatment centers and in the case of Flying Biscuit, a library.

The code states that any place serving alcohol must be at least 600 feet from a library. The East Cobb Library branch at Parkaire is 573 feet away in Parkaire.

So the initial alcohol license was automatically denied in January by the Cobb Business License Division.

Businesses can appeal to the Cobb License Review Board, a five-member appointed body, and on Feb. 24 that panel voted 4-0 to recommend approval.

Flying Biscuit hired Parks Huff, a noted Cobb zoning attorney, to handle the case, and he told the review board that the restaurant estimates that no more than 3 percent of its sales will be alcohol-related.

He also pointed to seven businesses nearby that have alcohol licenses.

Whenever a business makes such an appeal, it also has to fill out a lengthy questionnaire that requires many details to be explained about how the business will operate.

Restaurant manager Alexandra Baptiste said she plans to have 25 employees “when fully operational” and that staff will be trained every six months about alcohol sales.

When Flying Biscuit finally opens its doors—more than a decade after shutting them further up Johnson Ferry—the hours will be Monday-Friday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Saturday-Sunday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.