The Habit Burger Grill is a California-based fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in chargrilled hamburgers. The company also sells other typical fast-casual fare.[3] It was founded in 1969 at Santa Barbara, California, and its headquarters are in Irvine, California.[2]
In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wingstreet, acquired The Habit Burger Grill.[4][5][6]
History
The Habit Burger Grill was founded on November 15, 1969, in Santa Barbara County, California, as a family-owned business.[3][7]
In 1980, Brent and Bruce Reichard purchased the original location in Goleta, and a second location opened in Ventura in 1995. They gradually grew the chain to twenty-four units in Southern California.[8]
In 2007, KarpReilly, a private equity firm, acquired a majority ownership in the company and began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising.[9] Not included in the sale were the eight locations in Santa Barbara County, California, which remained under the ownership of the Reichard brothers.[8]
In 2014, Habit had 109 locations either open for business or under construction, including an expansion into Seattle.[10] 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.[11] In November 2014, the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering. [1] [12][13][14] The share price immediately doubled.[15] By 2016, growth had slowed significantly, in line with the burger business.[16]
In 2017, the company announced plans to expand into the United Kingdom with 30 restaurants.[17]
In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut, acquired Habit.[18] The brothers decided to retire and sell their remaining restaurants to Yum! Brands in 2021.[19] The operations shifted in March 2022.[20]
Locations
As of March 2023, Habit Burger Grill had 358 locations,[1] mostly in California, as follows:[1]
| Location | # of locations |
|---|---|
| Arizona | 21 |
| California | 250 |
| Florida | 9 |
| Idaho | 3 |
| Maryland | 5 |
| Massachusetts | 1[21] |
| Nevada | 11 |
| New Jersey | 12 |
| North Carolina | 4 |
| Pennsylvania | 1 |
| South Carolina | 1 |
| Utah | 13 |
| Virginia | 3 |
| Washington | 13 |
| Cambodia | 6[22][23] |
| China | 5 |
The company also has a fleet of nine food trucks.[24]
Reception
In mid-2014, The Habit's "Charburger" was named the best burger in America by Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to independent product testing, scoring an 8.1 out of 10 among 53,745 participants.[25][26][27]
See also
References
- ^ a b c "Locations". Habit Burger Grill.
- ^ a b "Contact us". Habit Burger & Grill.
- ^ a b Hile, K. (2016). The Handy California Answer Book. The Everest Files. Visible Ink Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-57859-623-2.
- ^ "Yum Brands". Insider. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ Ewen, Beth (29 March 2021). "Yum Brands Purchases The Habit Burger for $375M". FT. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "Yum! Brands high on The Habit". Food business news. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
- ^ "About us". The Habit Burger Grill.
- ^ a b 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 (Press release). 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.
- ^ "Original Habit Grill Founder Sells Remaining Local Restaurants". Edhat. 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- ^ Kettmann, Matt (2021-12-14). "Habit Burger Founders Sell Santa Barbara Restaurants". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
- ^ "This popular California-based burger chain is coming to Massachusetts in 2020". masslive. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
- ^ "The Habit Burger Grill to open location in Cambodia". 10 January 2023.
- ^ "The Habit Burger Grill to Open First Store in Cambodia". QSR magazine. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
- ^ "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.
