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. A second location opened in Ventura in 1996 and 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.   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 Taco Bell and KFC, acquired Habit. The brothers decided to retire and sell their remaining restaurants to Yum! Brands in 2020. The operations shifted in March 2022.

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

The company also has a fleet of nine food trucks.

Reception
In mid-2014, The Habit's "Charburger" was named the best burger in America by Consumer Reports, a nonprofit organization dedicated to unbiased product testing, scoring an 8.1 out of 10 among 53,745 participants.

See also
 List of hamburger restaurants

References

External links
 

Yum! Brands
1969 establishments in California
Companies based in Irvine, California
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
Cuisine of the Western United States
Restaurants established in 1969
2007 mergers and acquisitions
2020 mergers and acquisitions
Economy of the Southwestern United States
Fast-food chains of the United States
Fast-food franchises
Fast-food hamburger restaurants
Regional restaurant chains in the United States
Restaurants in California
2014 initial public offerings