Author: Gus Evans

When Maple Street’s first store opened in San Marco, one of their goals was to reach a community. To be more than just a restaurant, but be a place where relationships are built. It’s crazy the countless stories you’ll hear about team members and even guests that have something to say or a connection to Maple Street. We want to share a special one with you, and that special story would be Michael Burden’s. When Maple Street had just opened, Michael and his wife Morgan had recently moved to San Marco. They were young newlyweds enjoying their new chapter together in a beloved neighborhood in Jacksonville. One of the pages in that chapter involved them being regulars at Maple Street. Especially early Saturday morning trips to enjoy Sticky Maples and Five and Dimes. By becoming regular guests, a relationship was built between the Burdens and Gus Evans and Scott Moore. What one singular relationship does for some is amazing. For Michael and Morgan it meant leaps of faith and stepping into realms of the unknown.

We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. So how does one go from guest to managing partner? Well, sometimes just by asking and being honest. Michael was working at an office job where he was content, but not satisfied. He wasn’t able to fulfill his passion: face-to-face interactions with people, not computers. What Michael wanted was a place where he could grow. Most of all, he wanted somewhere that would allow him to build relationships with others and make an impact in a community. He wanted to encounter people who he could help, whether it be guests or future team members. Being regulars, they were quite aware of the growth Maple Street had in store. At this time it was only San Marco and the Jax Beach location. With a few encouragements from Morgan, Michael decided to approach the idea of being a partner at a store one day.

The approach came at the perfect time. Murray Hill was just about to open and they needed a leadership team. Gus and Scott knew it’d be the perfect opportunity for Michael to learn more of the culture, values, what the business looked like, and to learn from a managing partner: Chelsea. Michael took the opportunity and spent a year learning everything he could from every possible person in Maple Street. He owes a lot to the Murray Hill location and to Chelsea. It gave him the hands on training he knew he’d need to have his own store before he even knew where it was going to be.

What really transitioned Michael from office job to unpredictable restaurant life was the mission and vision behind Maple Street. He was always attracted to the mission of Maple Street and wanted to be in an environment which he felt aligned with his own philosophy and principles. “What I love most about Maple Street is that it has a very clear goal,” he says. “At Maple Street, we know that no one is perfect. We hold each other accountable. We are more of a family and a relationship than a business.” He stresses that the Maple Street work ethic literally matches his own life ethic. That sort of opportunity is hard to beat.

Michael and Morgan weren’t just working in Maple Street but they were dreaming of places where their very own Maple Street would be. Close to Jacksonville? In another state? The unknown was scary but also quite exciting. When talks of the Tallahassee store were coming up, Michael immediately offered to move. “I told them, ‘If you need someone, I’d like to do it.'” They have family close to Tallahassee, so the location was perfect for them. They agreed to all of this before they found out they were expecting the cutest little baby! That cute little baby is Summer Eisley and she made her appearance in July! Despite all the stress of selling a house, finding somewhere to live, preparing for a baby, and prepping to open a new restaurant, Michael knows it was the right decision. He says that everything was made possible due to Scott and Gus.

Now that Michael is a managing partner, he has found a few favorite things about his position. One of his favorites is team building. “Not a day goes by where I don’t think of the next day and how the team will work,” he says. Another thing he’s excited about is that he is in a position to take on more responsibility. Michael knows that being partner is intimidating, but he knows that Scott and Gus won’t let him fail.

Michael is most looking forward to the continued growth of Maple Street. He was amazed and surprised to find that most of his guests in Tallahassee had heard of Maple Street, indicating how much the restaurant’s reputation has grown. “Maple Street proves that growth is possible,” he says. “Look how much I’ve grown!” Being a partner requires determination, motivation, a love for the company and two great mentors.

A lot has changed since those early Saturday morning runs to the San Marco Maple Street. We said it was crazy how an individual story can evolve, didn’t we? Some things remains the same, Morgan still loves the Sticky Maple and Michael still loves the Five. Only he switches it up with some shiitake mushroom gravy. If you find yourself in Tallahassee, please stop by and see Michael. We know he’d love to meet you and serve you in any way.

They say life is made up of a million little moments that happen to you along the way—short blips in time that can later define your future without you even realizing it.

That’s exactly what happened to Zeke Arter, the partner at our Chattanooga community store. It’s all because of a chance meeting between his wife, Shanda, some 20 years ago that would eventually lead Zeke Arter down a path he never expected: business owner and biscuit maker.

Scott Moore is the founder and visionary behind Maple Street Biscuit Company in Jacksonville. Before his name became synonymous with the best biscuit on the First Coast, he lived in Chattanooga, Tennessee with his wife, Robyn, and their three children. It was there that Robyn met Shanda 18 years ago at another sandwich shop called the Bagel Market. As women tend to do, they easily struck up conversations that led to a lasting friendship between the couples. So much so that Zeke and Shanda asked Scott to officiate their wedding in 2001.

In 2012, much to the Arter’s surprise in Tennessee, they got word that Scott had left his job with a national grocery chain to pursue his new passion: biscuits. And his vision of a community store featuring southern comfort food with a modern twist was taking the Jacksonville food scene by storm.

As all good friends do, the Arter’s made spring break plans to travel to Florida, support their friends, and really find out what this Maple Street was all about. Zeke recalls waiting in line to place his order in a packed store. All he could repeat in his head in disbelief was, “It’s just a biscuit. This packed for just a biscuit?”

Well, it didn’t take long for Arter to be “pleasantly surprised.” He was so surprised that three years later he still remembers his first order: a Sticky Maple, Hashups and of course, an Iced Cinnamon Pecan Biscuit as well. He and his family were so impressed that they implored Moore to open another location one day back in Tennessee.

Fast forward almost a full year and Zeke Arter was in a place he never expected. It was February 2014 and he was professionally unhappy. The stress of giving energy to a job where other people didn’t seem to care was taking its toll. Unexpectedly, he had a thought; he should be the one to open the Maple Street store in Chattanooga. He texted his wife on a whim to gauge her shock value, and much to his surprise, she immediately said “Okay.”

When Zeke got the news to Moore, he quickly found himself down in Jacksonville at a Maple Street Biscuit Company—this time behind the scenes to get entrenched in the culture to see if this could really be his dream too. For three days he was with Chris Sears at the new Jacksonville Beach store making sausage gravy and simultaneously picking the minds of team members about the culture and the atmosphere. When Zeke went to leave, Moore urged him to take a week and go home and pray about it with his wife before giving him his final answer. It was a quick seven days with no looking back.

By September 2014, the Maple Street Biscuit Company was up and running on Broad Street in downtown Chattanooga. It was the company’s first location out of the state of Florida and still is today.

“It has been an adventure to say the least,” recalls Arter. “It’s been full of highs and lows, successes and failures.”

In less than one calendar year, the Chattanooga store is already firmly entrenched in Chattanooga’s increasingly bustling downtown and its ever-growing “foodie” scene. The team has hosted Hollywood actor Elijah Wood and film crews from Nashville based CMT (Country Music Television). They’ve racked up more than 145 Yelp reviews in 10 months, and more than 100 reviews on Trip Advisor where their biscuits and gracious service rank as the fourth best overall restaurant experience in Chattanooga.

“It’s humbling to say the least,” says Arter.

But for him, the success stretches far beyond the restaurant’s front door. The Chattanooga team has already had a chance to impact Young Life, the UTC Campus, and be involved in community events such as Riverbend, boat races, the Ironman and the Half Ironman.

Also, Arter shares some of his team members who were previously homeless are now back on their financial feet through Maple Street. Many young teens are also getting invaluable first-time job experience.

“It’s two times harder that I thought it was going to be.” states Arter. “I’m having to be responsible for my team and the business. It’s more challenging … and more good.”

Arter Family Maple Street Favorites:

Zeke: The BLT and the Five and Dime (which is impressive since growing up he didn’t even like gravy).

Shanda: The Chicken Club

Kaylea: The Five

Lexi: The Sticky Maple

Brooklyn: David Hashups

We’ve decided to take the opportunity in this news section of our home page to start sharing stories and history of Maple Street with our guests. We think, if it interests us and makes us love being a part of Maple Street more, then our guests would love knowing as well. For our very first post, we thought it only fitting to introduce you to Ms. Robyn, whose pecan pies have become quite famous in all of our stores. We know from working in all of the stores how delicious they are, but we figured spending an afternoon baking in her home, we could find out why she loved baking pies and how they got onto the menu.

Let me officially introduce you to Ms. Robyn. She is the wife of Maple Street’s owner and founder, Scott Moore. Let me just tell you that our afternoon baking – well, watching Robyn bake – was so much fun. We were reminded of our culture and got to hear all the fun stories from her point of view on opening up Maple Street. If being the wife of the owner and founder doesn’t give you any inclination as to what it was like, let us just say, it was hard. There were many long days of baking and cooking. We have to applaud her for all her hard work, even in the very beginning, when Maple Street was just a thought.

Robyn’s love for baking pies didn’t just occur in the past couple of years, it started while she was growing up in Indiana. Her mother would make pies for her father once or twice a week. She says she still does this and her father still eats them all up. When it was time for Robyn and her sister to learn how to make pies,  it became very difficult. Not that they weren’t  both naturals at baking, but her mother never measured anything! Her and her sister worked extra hard to figure out the proper measurements. You know those pies probably tasted extra delicious after all of that hard work. Since it’s on the menu, we had to ask if pecan pie must be her favorite pie to make. Nope! Apple pie is her absolute favorite pie to bake and eat. What gives? Where’d the pecan pie come from? She quickly let us know that Mr. Scott’s favorite pie to eat is pecan pie. Of course it is! We had so much fun baking, talking about Maple Street, listening to life stories, and deciding whether pecan pie is better eaten cooled off or right out of the oven. Take a look through our afternoon.

We know, our mouths have started to water too. Robyn’s pecan pies can be found in all of the stores. If you need a larger pecan pie, let us know in advance and we’ll be happy to make one. We especially love those orders around Thanksgiving and Christmas time.

The news is true, our Julington Creek location is open!

1627 Racetrack Road

Jacksonville, Florida

32259

It’s true! We recently announced our fifth location! It will be in the neighborhood of Julington Creek in Jacksonville, Florida! 1627 Race Track Road. We’re so excited and we’ve been working really hard! As soon as we have more finalized date of opening, we’ll be sure to share!