The Habit Burger Grill
The Habit Burger Grill (Habit) is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in charbroiled hamburgers. The company also sells other typical fast-casual fare.[2] Its headquarters are in Irvine, California.[3]
Type | Subsidiary |
---|---|
Industry | Fast casual restaurant |
Founded | November 15, 1969 Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
Headquarters | Irvine, California, U.S. |
Number of locations | 288[1] |
Area served | United States, Cambodia, China, United Arab Emirates |
Key people | Russell W. Bendel, CEO Ira Fils, CFO |
Parent | Yum! Brands |
Website | www |
In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell and KFC, acquired Habit.
History
The Habit Burger Grill was founded on November 15, 1969 in Santa Barbara, California as a family-owned business.[2][4]
From 1969 to 2007, the chain slowly expanded around the Los Angeles metropolitan area to 23 restaurants. In 1980, Brent and Bruce Reichard purchased the original location in Goleta.[5]
In 2007, KarpReilly, a private equity firm, acquired a majority ownership in the company and began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising.[6]
In 2014, Habit had 109 locations either open for business or under construction, including an expansion into Seattle.[7] At that time, the company was one of the fastest-growing fast food chains in the United States, with a 40% sales increase from 2012 to 2013.[8] In November 2014, the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering.[9][10][11] The share price immediately doubled.[12] By 2016, growth had slowed significantly, in line with the burger business.[13]
In 2017, the company announced plans to expand into the United Kingdom with 30 restaurants.[14]
In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell and KFC, acquired Habit.[15] Not included in the sale were the eight locations in Santa Barbara County, California, which remain under the ownership of the Reichard brothers.[5] That month, many of their restaurants abandoned indoor dine-ins to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Locations
As of February 2021, Habit Burger Grill currently has over 300 locations[16], mostly in California, as follows:[17]
Location | # of locations |
---|---|
Arizona | 16 |
California | 210 |
Florida | 8 |
Idaho | 3 |
Maryland | 5 |
Massachusetts | 1[18] |
Nevada | 10 |
New Jersey | 12 |
North Carolina | 2 |
Pennsylvania | 1 |
South Carolina | 1 |
Utah | 11 |
Virginia | 3 |
Washington State | 10 |
Cambodia | 3 |
China | 8 |
The company also has a fleet of nine food trucks.[19]
Reception
In mid-2014, The Habit's "Charburger" was named the best burger in America by Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to unbiased product testing, scoring an 8.1 out of 10 among 53,745 participants.[20][21][22]
References
- "Habit Burger Locations". Habit Burger & Grill.
- Hile, K. (2016). The Handy California Answer Book. The Everest Files. Visible Ink Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-57859-623-2.
- "Contact us". Habit Burger & Grill.
- "About us". The Habit Burger Grill.
- Kettmann, Matt; Yamamura, Jean (January 7, 2020). "Habit Burger Deal Doesn't Include Santa Barbara County". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
- "The Habit Hires Bendel as CEO". KarpReilly. June 3, 2008.
- Ho, Vanessa (July 11, 2014). "America's 'best burger' coming to Seattle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
- Hughes, Paul (August 12, 2014). "Irvine Burger Chain Reportedly Mulls IPO". American City Business Journals.
- "SEC Form 424B4, 333-199394 IPO Prospectus". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. November 19, 2014.
- Gayathri, Amrutha; Sachin, Sai (November 19, 2014). "Burger chain Habit Restaurants prices IPO at $18 a share". Reuters.
- Huddleston, Tom Jr. (November 20, 2014). "Burger chain Habit's IPO sizzles in debut". Fortune.
- Dimri, Neha; Ramakrishnan, Sruthi (November 20, 2014). "As diners line up, another fast casual chain sizzles on debut". Reuters.
- Taylor, Kate (July 14, 2016). "Shares of the restaurant chain that serves the best burger in America are in a tailspin". Business Insider.
- Scott, Ellen (November 9, 2017). "Habit burgers are coming to London". Metro.
- "Yum! Brands Completes Acquisition of The Habit Restaurants, Inc" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 18, 2020.
- "Locations". Habit Burger Grill.
- "Locations". Habit Burger Grill.
- "This popular California-based burger chain is coming to Massachusetts in 2020". masslive. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
- "Habit Burger looks to value offerings as 3Q same-store sales falter". Nation's Restaurant News. November 2, 2017.
- Spiegel, Alison (July 24, 2014). "The Country's Best Burger Comes From A Chain You've Probably Never Heard Of". HuffPost.
- Comoletti, Jill (July 10, 2014). "A Burger Chain You've Probably Never Heard Of Was Just Named Best In America". Business Insider.
- "Best and worst fast-food restaurants in America". Consumer Reports. July 2014.