Seattle's Biscuit Bitch to permanently close half of its locations in wake of COVID-19

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As restaurants across the Seattle area remain shuttered in wake of the novel coronavirus, it seems the dominoes are beginning to fall across the Emerald City's food scene.

Following the closure of downtown's beloved Il Corvo, and the alleged bankruptcy of longtime Pike Place gem, Sur La Table, popular fast casual Southern breakfast chain, Biscuit Bitch, will also permanently close two of its four locations in Seattle.

At just over eight years old, Biscuit Bitch has slowly claimed its fame across the city. Originally, the beloved breakfast hub grew out of a cozy pop-up at Pike Place's Caffe Lieto and into a local phenomenon, boasting long lines and a bodacious menu of biscuits doused in gravy by creative names like the "Smokin' Hot Bitch" and "Hot Mess Bitch."

While the original Caffe Lieto spot near Pike Place and the restaurant on Third Avenue and Bell Street in Belltown plan to reopen for takeout, delivery, and limited outdoor dining with a small staff nearer to June, the Pioneer Square and White Center outposts will close their doors for good.

"Back in early March, I noticed sales slowing down instead of ramping up like they usually do right before Comicon, St Patty’s Day and all the cool Spring stuff that heads off 'Cruise Ship Season' bringing the millions of tourists and 85% of our customer base to Seattle," owner Kimmie Spice announced on Facebook on Sunday. "I wasn’t too concerned at first because it was just a thousand down in sales here and there and I figured it would pick up when this crazy virus passed. Then we got the warning from the Guv about handwashing and such, and I read an article about Tom Douglas closing all his restaurants temporarily…Cruise Ships had been canceled... uh-oh, this was serious."

After crunching numbers, Spice eventually came to the hard decision to close all of the Biscuit Bitch locations alongside a temporary cushion in the bank for payroll, a few months of rent, utilities, contracts, and taxes.

Spice estimated that 85% of Biscuit Bitch’s customer base would be absent this year. Cutting back seemed to be the only way to keep the rest of the business afloat.

"I put 58 employees on standby Thursday, March 12, walking from store to store in shock to break the news to my unassuming, loyal, hardworking, amazing bitches," she wrote. "I spent the rest of the month drinking, thinking, sleeping and crying on the couch in my pj’s. It was not a fun vacation. My mind was constantly racing. My hair was falling out. I didn’t want to shower or get dressed; my life was over. One day I was in denial, the next fear, the next deep despair."

But the owner of the successful biscuit company, rolling in close to $4.8 million per year, simply couldn't salvage all four of her locations in the midst of an economic downturn as restaurants and businesses were ordered to close their doors. Nearby tech companies like Amazon couldn't supply their usual lunchtime rush, cruise ports collected cobwebs, airports emptied, the silence of sports arenas replaced cheering crowds, and conventions closed alongside festivals and concerts.

"How could I have let everyone down like this? How was I going to pay my mortgage without unemployment and no income? What was I going to do with all that food in the shops that would expire?," she wrote. "What about the vehicle I leased to help me get back and forth from the White Center shop? How was I going to pay for our storage rooms and our office downtown let alone the shops? When will we reopen? I need to cancel things immediately! Move things! Rearrange things! Sell things! Where do I start? I was in a tailspin."

But as the downtown and Pioneer Square locations saw the devastating effects of the pandemic earlier than many other neighborhoods, Spice came to the hard conclusion to close two of the Biscuit Bitch outposts.

“This was the most excruciatingly painful thing I’ve ever had to do,” she wrote. “Not only am I letting most everyone go, I’m breaking up a tight-knit family. Staff who have grown together, helped each other through life events, were accepting and welcoming when adding new members, who created a culture where differences and originality were celebrated! This is a heartbreak for me that may never mend.”

In the hopes of reopening the other two locations come June, Biscuit Bitch will have just ten employees. In teams of three, they will work to provide delivery and carry out to the Emerald City until the remaining two outposts may reopen.

"Sometime in early June you will probably see one of us in there making biscuits and gravy just like the old days," Spice said. "But I want to let you know, Seattle and Seattle visitors, how humbled and grateful I am that you took this Florida girl in, were open and accepting to my concept, and allowed me to realize all my dreams. I’m a born again in Seattle Bitch… and bitches will be back!"

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