There was a need, and so she become the Biscuit Lady of Plymouth Meeting

Tara Torrence’s business is rising, much like the trays of biscuits she is known for.

In less than two years, the Biscuit Lady has moved from Torrence’s home kitchen to a shared space in Wissahickon to a freestanding restaurant on Plymouth Road in Plymouth Meeting, just off I-476.

Four mornings a week, Torrence and her workers bake tray after tray of biscuits both plain and sweet. They also make eight kinds of sandwiches and fried doughnut-like biscuits called Holy Biscuits. There’s plenty of dine-in space, though most customers on a recent morning seemed to be headed out, cups of La Colombe coffee and bags of breakfast in hand.

Torrence, 39, who lives near the store, worked for a mortgage company. When her daughters, ages 9 and 6, were born, “I was home for a few years,” she said. “Then I asked, ‘What do I want to do with my life?’ I make amazing biscuits and I knew there was a need for amazing biscuits.”

She set up space in her home kitchen. “Obviously, it was very low investment — no investment, actually — no rent, no utilities other than your mortgage,” she said. The recipe is basic and straight out of North Carolina, where her husband grew up: flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, baking soda, butter, and buttermilk. Everything is whisked and shaped by hand.

Torrence posted photos on the Roxborough Mommas Facebook group, and “it took off immediately,” she said. She found kitchen space at Lucky’s Trading Co. in Wissahickon, and began selling biscuits and homemade jam out of there in 2022.

Most of the sandwiches are named after family members, like the bestselling Aunt Pattie, an extra-large buttermilk biscuit with sausage patty, egg, and American cheese. Her Uptown Girl biscuit sandwich, which adds peanut butter and strawberry jelly to the familiar bacon, egg, and cheese sandwich, is also a hit.

Realizing that she had something more than King Arthur flour on her hands, Torrence leased the former Bryn & Dane’s/Fudi space, a stand-alone building. She opened earlier this month to a line of customers around the parking lot.

Torrence said her years in the corporate world prepared her for setting up a business: During her time in real estate, she watched her homebuyers experience a mixture of elation and disappointment. On the other hand, making and selling biscuits, she said, “is pure joy.”

The Biscuit Lady, 115 Plymouth Rd., Plymouth Meeting. Hours: 7:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Thursday to Sunday.