Marketing

The Habit Burger Grill targets growth in East, West Coast markets

Provided by The Habit Burger

July 7, 2021

The Habit Burger Grill, a fast casual chain specializing in charbroiled hamburgers, plans to continue expansion, hitting markets in New England, California, Las Vegas, New Jersey and Seattle, according to a press release.

"We're on the cusp of an exciting new era for The Habit Burger Grill, facing vast untapped growth potential and strong unit economics. The development team has been designing our strategy for several months and the energy behind it is taking shape," Russ Bendel, CEO of The Habit Burger Grill, said in the release. "Along with forging ahead on our growth strategy, we've firmly established our operating model at the leading edge of the fast-casual sector through the implementation of tech-enabled innovations. The impact has been offering additional convenience enhancing the customer experience and streamlining in-store operations with a modernized mobile app, kiosks, online ordering and third-party delivery services."

The company plans to continue expansion in its native California, but is looking to target several Southeastern and East Coast markets as well. The Habit Burger Grill plans on opening more locations this year than any other year in the company's 52-year history.

"Our current franchise partners have been incredibly impressed at just how relevant our model is in today's rapidly evolving world — as it relates to both consumer preferences and what operators expect from concepts," John Phillips, chief global business partnership officer, said in the release. "The support we have in place for franchisees is extremely thorough. From the technology to real estate, training, design, marketing and menu innovation, the package we put together for franchisees provides 360-degree guidance on running great restaurants."

The Habit Burger Grill, in recent years, has worked to build its brand for the future, with app and web order sales reaching 40% of revenues in 2020, according to the release.

The brand also operates 11 food trucks, a full-on catering experience from start to finish.

As Food Truck Operator reported in April the brand strongly believes in giving back and supporting the community. In the past 12 months that "community" has been those on the COVID-19 frontline — healthcare workers — and the "giving back" is focused on providing complimentary meals via the brand's fleet of catering food trucks. Over the past year that's amounted to over 30,000 meals and climbing, throughout Southern California, with free food served at several of the largest vaccination sites in the U.S. Donation locations have included Disneyland, Dodgers Stadium, Petco Park, Dignity Health Sports Park, Anaheim Convention Center and the Long Beach Convention Center.

The Habit Burger Grill, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands Inc., is based in Southern California and has with more than 280 locations in the U.S.