The popular bakery Rise opened a new location in downtown Durham during Spring Break.
The shop—which serves biscuits and doughnuts—launched March 12 in a space formerly occupied by bakery Daisy Cakes on Foster Street near the Durham Farmers’ Market. Since the opening of the first shop in Durham in November 2012, Rise has won several local and national awards. The chain was selected as the eatery with the Best Biscuit in the Triangle two years in a row and was listed as one of FastCasual.com’s Top 100 Movers and Shakers in 2015.
“We just really strive to make the best dang biscuits and doughnuts we can and create loyalty with our customers and employees,” said Brian Wiles, Rise’s chief operating officer.
The franchise also recently added sites in Carrboro, Morrisville and Raleigh.
Wiles said he hopes the new location, which is closer to Duke’s campus, will attract more patrons from the Duke community than its original storefront near Southpoint Mall.
“Southpoint is awkward location for students. I’m hoping that as people come back from spring break that we are going to see a nice influx of Duke students [downtown],” he said.
The Carrboro location, which opened in February, already attracts a mix of students from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and local high schools, and the new site in Raleigh works well for North Carolina State University students, Wiles explained.
The store’s popular doughnut offerings include its maple bacon bar, chocolate iced doughnut and creme brulee doughnut.
He noted that the shop likes to change up its biscuit menu throughout the year to include seasonal ingredients, but that “tried and true” favorites are chicken biscuits and fried green tomato biscuits. The bakery sources its flour, eggs and pork locally, Wiles added.
The original bakery was started by Tom Ferguson, a Durham chef and former army ranger who founded Only Burger and the Durham Catering Company, both of which he has since sold.
Wiles explained that Ferguson initially wanted to open a biscuit restaurant, but after visiting several shops in Oregon and encountering a doughnut shop, he developed a plan to sell both biscuits and donuts. The idea soon took off, and when Wiles joined the venture in May 2012, the two went on a seven-state doughnut tour to learn the craft.
Wiles noted that Rise is expanding rapidly, with current plans for 26 total stores. The planned growth mostly comes from franchise agreements with partners—many of whom developed interest after trying Rise’s doughnuts and biscuits—in North Carolina, Florida and Texas.
The new downtown Durham site is open daily from 7 a.m. until 2 p.m.
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Adam Beyer is a senior public policy major and is The Chronicle's Digital Strategy Team director.