The Habit Burger Grill facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
The Habit Burger Grill

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Fast casual restaurant
Founded	November 15, 1969; 54 years ago (1969-11-15) Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Headquarters	Irvine, California, U.S.
Number of locations	358
Area served	United States, Cambodia, China, United Arab Emirates
Key people	Russell W. Bendel, CEO Ira Fils, CFO
Products	Chargrilled Burgers sandwiches salads kids meals frozen desserts beverages
Revenue	US$402 million (2021)
Number of employees	6,093 (2021)
Parent	Yum! Brands

Original location of the first Habit Burger Grill restaurant in Goleta, which opened in 1969

Habit Burger Grill Charburger with Cheese

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. It was founded in 1969 at Santa Barbara, California, and its headquarters are in Irvine, California.

In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wingstreet, acquired The Habit Burger Grill.

History

The Habit Burger Grill was founded on November 15, 1969, in Santa Barbara County, California, as a family-owned business.

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.

In 2007, KarpReilly, a private equity firm, acquired a majority ownership in the company and began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising. Not included in the sale were the eight locations in Santa Barbara County, California, which remained under the ownership of the Reichard brothers.

In 2014, Habit had 109 locations either open for business or under construction, including an expansion into Seattle. 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. In November 2014, the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering. [1] The share price immediately doubled. By 2016, growth had slowed significantly, in line with the burger business.

In 2017, the company announced plans to expand into the United Kingdom with 30 restaurants.

In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell and Wingstreet, acquired Habit. The brothers decided to retire and sell their remaining restaurants to Yum! Brands in 2021. The operations shifted in March 2022.

Locations

As of March 2023, Habit Burger Grill had 358 locations, mostly in California, as follows:

The company also has a fleet of nine food trucks.

See also

• List of hamburger restaurants