The famous biscuits at The Carriage House are special, mainly because of their size.

They aren’t your grandmother’s hefty, flaky, chunks of warm goodness.

They are petite little things intended only to deceive.

Something so small can’t be bad for you, your stomach tells your brain. It’s little. Have another.

And another.

Three mini-biscuits can’t possibly equate to even one of the normal-sized ones.

Have another.

And before you know it you are eating them by the handful.

Mini biscuits don’t come with miniature-sized “Nutrition Facts” charts, so I don’t know exactly how bad for you a buttery Carriage House biscuit is.

I can only imagine.

But this little biscuit serves a purpose greater than inflating the stomachs of Natchez residents and tourists alike.

They’ve helped — at least in part — to earn us a title.

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, brace yourselves, prepare your stomachs and step right up to the BISCUIT CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.

That’s right, you heard it. Natchez has a title.

We now sit proudly alongside the likes of Kennett Square, Pa., the Mushroom Capital of the World; Sheboygan, Wis., the Bratwurst Capital of the World; and Naples, N.Y., the Grape Pie Capital of the World.

Haul in the flour, pour in some milk and get ready to start munching.

But what do we get from our newfound biscuit domination?

Well, that’s hard to say exactly, but the folks who worked three years to bring the title home had a few ideas in their heads along the way. Their most important thought, though, was marketing.

In this day and age, you have to know your niche. Just take a look at the magazine racks in the bookstores. Publishers don’t just make sports magazines. They make tennis magazines, golf magazines, racing magazines, curling magazines and more.

In the world of marketing you have to key in on something specific or you’ll be left to sit on the newsstand alone.

For Natchez, we know we have good food. It’s the South, that’s a given. But, what food do we do best?

Obviously there wasn’t a scientific poll that declared biscuits our best, but just roll with it a bit.

The Carriage House biscuits are unlike others I’ve had. We have a restaurant named Biscuits and Blues. We host the annual Martha White biscuit cook-off.

Biscuits seem like a good choice.

The brains behind the biscuit title also had to consider whether or not someone else was already claiming to be the Biscuit Capital of the World. As we’ve learned from Kennett Square and Naples, pretty much everything is already taken.

The end result? Biscuits are our newfound niche.

Now, we can claim the title online, on advertisements, in press releases, on banners and more. We can invite the Travel Channel or the Food Network to visit the Biscuit Capital of the World, do a feature story and in turn, drive other traffic to see the rest of our fine attractions.

Who knows, maybe there is even a “Biscuit lovers club of America” that can host their annual convention here.

We all know we aren’t going to stop shoving the bundles of the Carriage House biscuits into our mouths, so we might as well reap the benefits.

Worse titles exist.

Try a visit to Beaver, Okla. — The Cow Chip Throwing Capital of the World.

Julie Finley is the managing editor of The Natchez Democrat. She can be reached at 601-445-3551 or julie.finley@nathezdemocrat.com.