Sarah Hadzor Worley, owner of the Nashville-based brunch staple Biscuit Love and an alumna, came back to campus to share with students the success story of her career. This, however, was not a conversation about business proposals and marketing; instead, it focused on community and heart.
“Biscuit Love is a story of dreams. It’s a story of community,” said Worley, who studied accounting and received a graduate degree from Belmont in business. She shared the story of how she and her husband, Karl, have made community an intricate and integral part of Biscuit Love since they first opened as a food truck in 2012. When they made the transition to open the first brick-and-mortar location of Biscuit Love in the Gulch in 2015, they prioritized creating a place where people can commune, relationships can grow and dreams can thrive. While this creates an atmosphere customers love, it all begins with the employees. Sarah and Karl take the time to get to know each employee as a part of their mission to create community. Whenever a new employee starts at Biscuit Love, they are asked what their big dream is, as Worley’s goal has always been to take her dream and use it as a catalyst for other’s dreams.
Biscuit Love exists to nourish both stomachs and souls. “I’m not passionate about the biscuits,” Worley said. Rather, she is passionate about impacting people’s lives. She believes it is this heart of Biscuit Love that sets it apart from restaurants like it and integrates it into the community of Nashville.
Worley proposed the challenge for current students to figure out ways to create community with the people around them and invest in that community. As students consider their future, she advised them to build community by surrounding themselves with people who have similar passions to be encouraged, while also finding people who think differently to be challenged. Worley told students to dream big and start becoming who they want to be.
Worley is trying to make the world a better place through biscuits, and leading the way as an inspiration for students with big dreams of their own.
