 | |
| Formerly | The Habit Burger Grill |
|---|---|
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Nasdaq: HABT | |
| Industry | Fast casual restaurant |
| Founded | November 15, 1969; 55 years ago (1969-11-15) Santa Barbara, California, U.S. |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California, U.S. |
Number of locations | 372[1] |
Area served | United States,Cambodia,China,United Arab Emirates |
Key people | Shannon Hennessy (CEO) Tiffany Furman (CFO) |
| Products |
|
| Revenue |  US$402 million (2021) |
Number of employees | 6,093 (2021) |
| Parent | Yum! Brands |
| Website | habitburger |
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Habit Burger & Grill, formerly known asThe Habit Burger Grill, is aCalifornia-basedfast casual restaurant chain that specializes in chargrilled hamburgers. The company also sells other typical fast-casual fare.[3] It was founded in 1969 atSanta Barbara, California, and its headquarters are inIrvine, California.[2]
In March 2020,Yum! Brands, the parent company ofKFC,Pizza Hut, andTaco Bell, acquired The Habit Burger Grill.[4][5][6]
The Habit Burger Grill was founded on November 15, 1969, inSanta Barbara County, California, as a family-owned business.[3][7] It originally operated under the name Hamburger Habit.[8]
In 1980, Brent and Bruce Reichard purchased the original location inGoleta. A second location opened inVentura in 1997.[9] They gradually grew the chain to 17 units inSouthern California.[9]
In 2007, KarpReilly, a private equity firm, acquired a majority ownership in the company and began to rapidly expand the chain, including franchising.[10] 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 intoSeattle.[11] 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.[12] In November 2014, the company raised $83.7 million in an initial public offering.[13][14][15] The share price immediately doubled.[16] By 2016, growth had slowed significantly, in line with the burger business.[17]
In 2017, the company announced plans to expand into the United Kingdom with 30 restaurants.[18]
In March 2020,Yum! Brands, the parent company ofKFC,Pizza Hut,Taco Bell andWingStreet, acquired Habit.[19] The brothers decided to retire and sell their remaining restaurants to Yum! Brands in 2021.[20] The operations shifted in March 2022.[21]
July 2024 saw its restaurants switch soft drinks, as a result of Yum! Brands' acquisition, fromCoca-Cola toPepsi.
On August 28, 2024, the company renamed its restaurant chain to Habit Burger & Grill.[22]
In mid-2014, The Habit's "Charburger" was named the best burger in America byConsumer Reports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to independent product testing, scoring an 8.1 out of 10 among 53,745 participants.[23][24][25]
