Peach Cobbler Factory has quietly been one of the restaurant industry’s fastest-growing chains over the past couple of years with a unique menu filled with sweets.
But its future may be more savory than that.
At least, that’s if CEO and co-owner Greg George has anything to say about it. “You know the Cheesecake Factory,” George said in an interview. “They started with desserts only. Dairy Queen started with milkshakes and things. They got into food.”
And so Peach Cobbler Factory plans to test breakfast, lunch and dinner, including items like macaroni and cheese in a cup and meatballs and biscuits. “You can’t get this stuff anywhere else,” George said. “It’s going to go crazy on the Internet because it’s unique and different.”
That new menu is in development at the moment. But it would be an intriguing idea if it works.
Peach Cobbler Factory has grown rapidly, largely through franchising and its limited menu of unique desserts, including cobblers like peach, honey apple and sweet potato pecan. It also sells a selection of cookies, including cobbler cookies, as well as banana pudding, shakes, churros, brownies and beverages.
The chain was founded by Juan and Tamira Edgerton in Nashville in 2013. George, who has overseen franchising at several chains over the years, including The Fuzzy Peach and Clean Eatz, heard about the concept and flew to Nashville to check it out.
George stopped by the original location at 1 p.m. and saw a line of customers waiting for dessert. He then spoke with the owners.
“I was living on a 55-foot ocean yacht in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean near Charleston, South Carolina,” George said. “I’ll never forget flying in there. And by the time I had gotten back from meeting with these folks, they already accepted my proposal, and I flew back the next day and met them at the bank.”
“Within 24 hours, I owned 50% of the company.”
He later brought in Larry Johnston, the former CEO of the supermarket chain Albertsons and a former GE executive, who bought a major stake in the company with the agreement that George would serve as CEO.
The company has grown aggressively through franchising. Each of the 101 locations Peach Cobbler Factory owned at the end of 2024 was operated by a franchisee. George said that the company is attracting more sophisticated operators who are unable to grow with their existing brands.
“Nobody sells 12 flavors of cobbler or banana pudding milkshakes or cobbler milkshakes,” he said. “We just have a unique menu.”
The brand is now eyeing continued growth. George wants to have more than 1,000 locations five years from now, for instance. He believes more savory items, including “big-ass biscuits” and combinations of meat and macaroni and cheese, will help get the brand there.
And he says it can all fit in the existing brand. “There’s no new equipment needed,” George said. “My partner, he had 3,700 grocery stores. He knows a lot about food. We know who to go do. We work with food scientists that have helped us come up with something. Our franchisees don’t have to change a thing.”
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