The_Habit

The Habit Burger Grill

The Habit Burger Grill

American fast casual restaurant chain

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]

Quick Facts Company type, Industry ...
Original location of the first Habit Burger Grill restaurant in Goleta, which opened in 1969
Habit Burger Grill Charburger with Cheese

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. [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]

More information Location, # of locations ...

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

  1. [1]
    "Locations". Habit Burger Grill.
  2. [2]
    "Contact us". Habit Burger & Grill.
  3. [3]
    Hile, K. (2016). The Handy California Answer Book. The Everest Files. Visible Ink Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-57859-623-2.
  4. [4]
    "Yum Brands". Insider. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  5. [5]
    Ewen, Beth (29 March 2021). "Yum Brands Purchases The Habit Burger for $375M". FT. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  6. [6]
    "Yum! Brands high on The Habit". Food business news. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  7. [7]
    "About us". The Habit Burger Grill.
  8. [8]
    Kettmann, Matt; Yamamura, Jean (January 7, 2020). "Habit Burger Deal Doesn't Include Santa Barbara County". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  9. [9]
    "The Habit Hires Bendel as CEO". KarpReilly (Press release). June 3, 2008.
  10. [10]
    Ho, Vanessa (July 11, 2014). "America's 'best burger' coming to Seattle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  11. [11]
    Hughes, Paul (August 12, 2014). "Irvine Burger Chain Reportedly Mulls IPO". American City Business Journals.
  12. [12]
    "SEC Form 424B4, 333-199394 IPO Prospectus". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. November 19, 2014.
  13. [13]
    Gayathri, Amrutha; Sachin, Sai (November 19, 2014). "Burger chain Habit Restaurants prices IPO at $18 a share". Reuters.
  14. [14]
    Huddleston, Tom Jr. (November 20, 2014). "Burger chain Habit's IPO sizzles in debut". Fortune.
  15. [15]
    Dimri, Neha; Ramakrishnan, Sruthi (November 20, 2014). "As diners line up, another fast casual chain sizzles on debut". Reuters.
  16. [16]
    Taylor, Kate (July 14, 2016). "Shares of the restaurant chain that serves the best burger in America are in a tailspin". Business Insider.
  17. [17]
    Scott, Ellen (November 9, 2017). "Habit burgers are coming to London". Metro.
  18. [18]
    "Yum! Brands Completes Acquisition of The Habit Restaurants, Inc" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 18, 2020.
  19. [19]
    "Original Habit Grill Founder Sells Remaining Local Restaurants". Edhat. 2021-12-14. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  20. [20]
    Kettmann, Matt (2021-12-14). "Habit Burger Founders Sell Santa Barbara Restaurants". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  21. [21]
    "This popular California-based burger chain is coming to Massachusetts in 2020". masslive. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2020-09-12.
  22. [22]
    "The Habit Burger Grill to open location in Cambodia". 10 January 2023.
  23. [23]
    "The Habit Burger Grill to Open First Store in Cambodia". QSR magazine. 20 October 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-21.
  24. [24]
    "Habit Burger looks to value offerings as 3Q same-store sales falter". Nation's Restaurant News. November 2, 2017.
  25. [25]
    Spiegel, Alison (July 24, 2014). "The Country's Best Burger Comes From A Chain You've Probably Never Heard Of". HuffPost.
  26. [26]
    Comoletti, Jill (July 10, 2014). "A Burger Chain You've Probably Never Heard Of Was Just Named Best In America". Business Insider.
  27. [27]
    "Best and worst fast-food restaurants in America". Consumer Reports. July 2014.
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