Habit Burger & Grill

Habit Burger & Grill
Habit Burger & Grill[1]
FormerlyThe Habit Burger Grill[2]
TypeSubsidiary
Nasdaq: HABT
IndustryFast casual restaurant
FoundedNovember 15, 1969 (1969-11-15)
Santa Barbara, California, U.S.
Headquarters
Irvine, California, U.S.
Number of locations
372[3]
Area served
United States, Cambodia,[4] China, United Arab Emirates
Key people
  • Shannon Hennessy (CEO)
  • Tiffany Furman (CFO)
Products
  • Chargrilled burgers
  • sandwiches
  • salads
  • kids meals
  • frozen desserts
  • beverages
RevenueIncrease US$402 million (2021)
Number of employees
6,093 (2021)
ParentYum! Brands
Websitewww.habitburger.com Edit this at Wikidata
Original location of the first Habit Burger Grill restaurant in Goleta, which opened in 1969
Habit Burger Grill Charburger with Cheese

The Habit Restaurants, LLC, doing business as Habit Burger & Grill,[1] is a fast casual restaurant chain based in Irvine, California, specializing in chargrilled hamburgers. The company sells typical fast-casual fare.[5]

In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC and Taco Bell, acquired The Habit Burger Grill.[6][7][8]

History

The Habit Burger Grill was founded on November 15, 1969, in Santa Barbara, California, as a family-owned business.[5][9] It originally operated under the name The Hamburger Habit.[10] In 1980, Brent and Bruce Reichard purchased the original location in Goleta. A second location opened in Ventura in 1997.[11] They gradually expanded the chain to 17 units in Southern California.[11]

In 2007, KarpReilly, a private equity firm, acquired a majority ownership in the company and began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising.[12] Not included in the sale were eight locations in Santa Barbara County, California, which remained under the ownership of the Reichard brothers.[10]

In 2014, Habit had 109 locations either operating or under construction, including an expansion location in Seattle.[13] At the 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.[14] In November 2014, the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering.[15][16][17] The share price immediately doubled.[18] By 2016, growth had slowed significantly, in line with the burger business.[19] In 2017, the company announced plans to expand into the United Kingdom with 30 restaurants.[20]

In March 2020, Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and WingStreet, acquired Habit.[21] The brothers decided to retire and sell their remaining restaurants to Yum! Brands in 2021.[22] The operations shifted in March 2022.[23]

In July 2024, the restaurants switched soft drinks, as a result of Yum! Brands' acquisition, from Coca-Cola to Pepsi. On August 28, 2024, the company renamed its restaurant chain to Habit Burger & Grill.[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]

Animal welfare

In 2021, Yum! Brands, with close to 50,000 locations globally across its KFC, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, and The Habit Burger Grill brands, released a global policy to transition to 100% cage-free eggs in the majority of its locations by 2026, and globally by 2030.[28]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Habit Burger & Grill – Trademark Details". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  2. ↑ "The Habit Burger Grill – Trademark Details". Justia Trademarks. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  3. ↑ "Locations". Habit Burger & Grill.
  4. ↑ "The Habit Burger Grill Opens in Cambodia". B2B Cambodia. October 22, 2020. Retrieved October 31, 2025.
  5. 1 2 Hile, K. (2016). The Handy California Answer Book. The Everest Files. Visible Ink Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-1-57859-623-2.
  6. ↑ "Yum Brands". Insider. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  7. ↑ Ewen, Beth (March 29, 2021). "Yum Brands Purchases The Habit Burger for $375M". Franchise Times. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  8. ↑ "Yum! Brands High on The Habit". Food business news. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  9. ↑ "About us". The Habit Burger Grill.
  10. 1 2 Kettmann, Matt; Yamamura, Jean (January 7, 2020). "Habit Burger Deal Doesn't Include Santa Barbara County". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved May 26, 2020.
  11. 1 2 Hayden, Tyler (June 29, 2017). "The Habit's Secret Sauce". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  12. ↑ "The Habit Hires Bendel as CEO". KarpReilly (Press release). June 3, 2008.
  13. ↑ Ho, Vanessa (July 11, 2014). "America's 'Best Burger' Coming to Seattle". Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
  14. ↑ "Burger chain Habit Restaurants prices IPO at $18 a share". Reuters. November 20, 2014. Retrieved October 16, 2025.
  15. ↑ "SEC Form 424B4, 333-199394 IPO Prospectus". U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. November 19, 2014.
  16. ↑ Gayathri, Amrutha; Sachin, Sai (November 19, 2014). "Burger Chain Habit Restaurants Prices IPO at $18 a Share". Reuters.
  17. ↑ Huddleston, Tom Jr. (November 20, 2014). "Burger Chain Habit's IPO Sizzles in Debut". Fortune.
  18. ↑ Dimri, Neha; Ramakrishnan, Sruthi (November 20, 2014). "As Diners Line Up, Another Fast Casual Chain Sizzles on Debut". Reuters.
  19. ↑ Taylor, Kate (July 14, 2016). "Shares of the restaurant chain that serves the best burger in America are in a tailspin". Business Insider.
  20. ↑ Scott, Ellen (November 9, 2017). "Habit burgers are coming to London". Metro.
  21. ↑ "Yum! Brands Completes Acquisition of The Habit Restaurants, Inc" (Press release). PR Newswire. March 18, 2020.
  22. ↑ "Original Habit Grill Founder Sells Remaining Local Restaurants". Edhat. December 14, 2021. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  23. ↑ Kettmann, Matt (December 14, 2021). "Habit Burger Founders Sell Santa Barbara Restaurants". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
  24. ↑ Buck, Fielding (August 28, 2024). "The Habit Burger Grill Changes Its Name". East Bay Times. Retrieved June 18, 2026.
  25. ↑ Spiegel, Alison (July 24, 2014). "The Country's Best Burger Comes from a Chain You've Probably Never Heard Of". HuffPost.
  26. ↑ Comoletti, Jill (July 10, 2014). "A Burger Chain You've Probably Never Heard of Was Just Named Best in America". Business Insider.
  27. ↑ "Best and Worst Fast-Food Restaurants in America". Consumer Reports. July 2014.
  28. ↑ "Yum! Brands to Transition to 100 Percent Cage-Free Eggs". QSR Magazine. September 3, 2021. Retrieved July 18, 2025.
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