CUMMING — From the rubble of the burnt building came biscuits. Really good biscuits.

Mr. Swiss, the last known branch of a Dairy Queen-like franchise, has found a new home in the shopping center at Elm Street and Tribble Gap Road in Cumming, two years after the original building across town burnt down.

The first biscuit was sold 44 years ago. Now John Robbs has taken the lead in place of his parents, Lunell and Charles. The couple bought into the restaurant franchise when their dairy and chicken farm started to falter.

“[They] worked 80 hours a week to get the business started,” Robbs said. “When McDonald’s came to Cumming, my parents decided to open a little earlier and make some biscuits since they feared they could not compete with McDonald’s hamburgers.

“At first, they made about 20 to 40 biscuits per morning. By the time my father had his first heart attack and I started helping them out, my mother was making over 1,000 biscuits a day, one by one, by hand, each one having three ridges on it, the imprint left by the spaces between her fingers.”

More than 30 family members have worked at Mr. Swiss at some point. That includes Annie, John’s daughter, who made a few biscuits for the first time just days before fire claimed the location at Meadow Drive and Atlanta Road.

“She was 6 at the time and became the last member of our family to ever work at the old location,” said Robbs, though he does hope to reopen there still as a second site.

His mother doesn’t work much anymore, but the biscuits made in the new location are still her home recipe, made by feel. Robbs said his favorite is a plain butter biscuit, but the country ham is the most popular.

For now, the restaurant is open 5-11 a.m. Monday through Saturday with a limited menu. A grand opening is set for Tuesday, when ham, sausage and bacon biscuits will be sold for $.99 all day.

And the Robbs aren’t the only family to call Mr. Swiss a second home.

Katie Ward has been eating there her whole life, and now brings her 4-year-old daughter, Maggie Ruth Ward.

Ward’s father, Ricky, graduated from what was then Forsyth County High School in 1973 and would be in charge of bringing everyone food from Mr. Swiss.

“It was where you went to see everyone and talk,” he said. “It was the beauty shop for the men.”

As Katie Ward recalled, “Everyone always counted on them to take up half the restaurant.”

Larry Watson has also been eating at Mr. Swiss since it opened.

“There’s no sign up yet, and people still pile in here,” he said.

Since reopening, Robbs said, “It’s felt like family there. People would come by and wish us well or just come hug me. One woman came in to hug me and cried.

 “My mother and father built the ultimate family business. When someone died, there was always a collection box on the counter to buy flowers from the ‘family of Mr. Swiss,’” Robbs said. “Mr. Swiss has been there to throw birthday parties for the elderly who had no children or go and pick up some of its customers who became unable to drive so that they could spend a few hours with their friends.

“My mother often woke up an extra 30 minutes earlier than her usual 3 a.m. time to make a few dozen extra biscuits to send … when a family member of one of their customers died.

“My parents never put the Mr. Swiss name on the biscuits they gave away … they merely marked the biscuits with an ‘H’ for country ham or with an ‘S’ for sausage.”