Hometown Eats: Scratch Biscuit Company

ROANOKE, Va. (WDBJ) - Breakfast... lots of people will tell you it’s the most important meal of the day. Well, there’s a spot in Roanoke’s Grandin Village serving up biscuits so big you can check off lunch and dinner. We’re headed to Scratch Biscuit Company for this week’s Hometown Eats.

Since August 2016 that’s exactly what they’ve been serving at Scratch Biscuit Company in the Grandin Village. Owner Nathan Webster’s family comes from a farming linage. From his grandfather’s tools on the walls to the way everything on the menu is made, it’s all from scratch.

“We’re literally building everything from scratch here and the best biscuits are scratch-made biscuits,” said Webster.

“Close your eyes and pick something on the menu, it’s all pretty good” said Coeburn, who was there eating with his father, Bob.

That all starts in the back, way before the sun comes up with head biscuit maker, Candy Sowers.

“Going to take the lid off and break up my dough; then we’ll add the buttermilk. Then I’m going to mix it up,” explained Sowers.

Candy says they make about 500 biscuits a day and close to 1,000 on the weekends.

“I just love making biscuits, I enjoy it, no particular reason,” said Sowers. She credits her grandmother for teaching her the art of making biscuits.

And these aren’t your everyday biscuits; the standard at Scratch is a five-incher.

“They’re big biscuits, big fluffy biscuits. It’s just delicious and really good food,” said Bob.

The Scratch kitchen is full of staffers who stay busy with the nonstop flow of orders.

“Staff means everything because they’re in here early getting prepped up, because we want a big breakfast for people to come in and get ready for their day, because for me personally, breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” said Webster.

“We can buckle down when it gets really busy and get everything done that we need to do. Everybody knows how to do pretty much everything, so everybody can see when someone is struggling and jump in and help get everything done,” said assistant manager Holly Poole.

You’ll find just about anything you can imagine for breakfast in this joint. If you want to go classic, check out the early rise with eggs, meat, buttered biscuit, and a side. Full disclosure, I rank the grits as some of the best I’ve eaten.

If you want to go hands-on, how about another southern favorite, country ham, egg, and cheese.

But if you wanna get nuts, let’s get nuts. Meet the Cowboy Crippler: 8-inch biscuit with hash brown, deep fried sausage patty, pulled pork, brisket, and topped with cheese. Poole said it’s the most popular biscuit on the menu.

“We were just joking around one day when we were developing a menu and I was like, let’s do a bigger biscuit, so we agreed on an 8-inch biscuit cut,” explained Webster. “If you ate that whole biscuit, it would cripple you and then we said the Cowboy Crippler. You eat that whole biscuit, you’re good for the day; you don’t need any more food.”

If you love adding some kick to your biscuit, Scratch has two house-made hot sauces. one with habaneros, another with ghost peppers. If you somehow saved room for dessert, you could finish with a fluffy cinnamon roll.

In May of 2023, Southern Living Magazine featured Scratch, a goal Webster had from day one.

“I was happy for our staff, I was happy for Roanoke, I was happy for us because they’ve done a lot of highlighting for a couple other Roanoke places too, so it’s cool to see our whole region being highlighted by Southern Living Magazine,” said Webster.

Whether it’s big dreams or big biscuits, Scratch leaves customers with big smiles.

“I love feeding people, I love the camaraderie of a restaurant, I love different customers of a restaurant, I love the social aspect of a restaurant. I love doing it. I can’t explain it another way, I just love being in the restaurant business,” said Webster.

“Thumbs up! It was really good!” Coeburn exclaimed.

Scratch Biscuit Company, a hometown eat full of southern charm.

Scratch Biscuit Company is at 1820 Memorial Ave SW, Roanoke, VA 24015.

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