Taste, the Italian concept from Starkville’s own Culinary Innovation Group, is thinking a lot bigger than one college town. Leadership says the goal is clear: a Taste in every Southeastern Conference city by 2029. The timing lines up with a flurry of Mississippi activity, including an operating Ridgeland location and more local projects under construction. Recent hires and a separate steakhouse concept in development signal that the team is quietly building the muscle it needs for broader, multi-market growth.
Taste's SEC play
Co-founder Craig Fant told The Clarion-Ledger that the group is aiming to plant a Taste in every SEC city by 2029, while also scouting other targets such as Nashville. According to the paper, Culinary Innovation Group started in Starkville and now runs multiple concepts as it gears up for that wider rollout.
Where the brand is rolling out
The company’s site lists the original Taste in Starkville along with a Ridgeland outpost at Renaissance at Colony Park. The mall directory and the restaurant’s Ridgeland page place the newer location at Renaissance at Colony Park and show that it has been operating there since 2025. Together, the Starkville flagship and Ridgeland expansion give the team a working model for how the brand could play in larger college towns and regional hubs.
Local buildout and a new steakhouse
According to The Clarion-Ledger, Culinary Innovation Group is adding a second Taste in Starkville near the Mill at MSU and is developing Heritage Steakhouse for the former 44 Prime space, with Fant saying the new steakhouse will seat nearly 160 diners. The same report notes that the group has a letter of intent for an Oxford project that would house both a Taste and a Heritage, and that industry veteran Bobby Burgess has been hired to oversee beverage programs across the company’s concepts.
What it means for local dining
Trying to put a Taste in every SEC city would push the brand to evolve from its college-town roots in Starkville into bigger, tougher markets where Italian spots and steakhouses are already well entrenched. Local coverage has compared the Ridgeland version of Taste with long-running restaurants in the area, and the group’s careful, build-by-build expansion suggests leadership is trying to sidestep the usual growing pains that come with rapid franchising. HEREstarkville has covered the Ridgeland opening itself, while Explore Ridgeland has highlighted early public reaction.
If Culinary Innovation Group stays on track for its 2029 goal, SEC fans could start spotting new Tastes over the next several years, with Oxford and Tennessee markets among the earliest targets mentioned. For now, diners will have to get their fix at the Starkville home base and in Ridgeland while the company locks in details for additional Southern markets, according to the restaurant’s own site.
