Tupelo honey hopes to catch more flies.

• Position: Western

The Sheer Bliss Tupelo Burger is a 50-50 mix of short rib and prime rib. When Tupelo Honey Cafe opened its second Asheville restaurant in 2010, chef Brian Sonoskus had to grind meat twice weekly from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. to make enough for both locations. It wasn't ideal, but he wasn't willing to sacrifice quality for quantity. By 2014, Tupelo Honey Hospitality Corp. will have seven restaurants, each requiring 200 to 300 pounds of burger meat a week. So he worked out a deal with Rosemont, Ill.-based distributor US Foods Inc. to have it ground his way. "Five stores is kind of the magic number to demand a little more respect and buying power."

Tupelo Honey has been one of the most popular restaurants in Asheville since its founding in 2001. According to Frommers guidebook, "No other restaurant in Asheville so effectively captures the imagination of both the down-home breakfast crowd and, on Friday and Saturday nights, the very-late-night supper crowd. "When Sonoskus started working there a year after it opened, the owner had no expansion plans. But Stephen Frabitore, 51, bought the restaurant in 2008 after selling his outdoor-power-equipment business in Florida to a venture-capital firm. He had flown to Asheville to inquire about another restaurant, but it didn't pan out. A friend recommended Tupelo Honey. During his first year as owner, he spent Saturday nights at the hostess stand discovering why customers liked the food: local sources and Sonoskus' seemingly simple dishes. He thought he could turn...