Fast-growing craft hamburger chain plans to open restaurant in Lakewood Ranch
Craft hamburger restaurant chain BurgerFi has filed paperwork with Manatee County Building Services to open its first restaurant in Manatee County. The company is seeking approval for buildout of an existing shell structure.
The restaurant, featuring burger offerings ranging from highly marbled Wagyu beef and brisket blend, to double natural Angus beef hamburgers and cheeseburgers, would be located in The Green at Lakewood Ranch shopping center.
The Palm Beach-based chain was founded in 2011 by “gourmet chefs committed to serving the highest quality fresh food in an eco-friendly environment,” according to its web page, burgerfi.com.
“That’s why our natural Angus beef is sourced from the leading ranches in the country. We even go the extra mile with our fresh-cut, made-to-order fries, award-winning quinoa-based VegeFi Burger, cage-free, all-natural chicken, and more. We must admit though, none of our chef-created favorites are complete without our frozen custard desserts,” BurgerFi says on its web page.
BurgerFi opened its first Sarasota restaurant in 2016 at 257 N. Cattlemen Road Unit 90 in the University Town Center District. At its opening, the restaurant had 164 seats available: 72 inside, 92 outside
BurgerFi, which went public in December 2020, has approximately 125 company owned or franchised restaurants in 20 states, and plans to open 30-35 restaurants in 2021 and 40-45 restaurants in 2022, the company reported in January.
“While this past year was challenging for the entire restaurant industry, it has been a tremendous year of growth for BurgerFi as they have just gone public. BurgerFi has seen incredible success with delivery sales up over 120% year over year in the fourth quarter. BurgerFi is poised to expand its’ brick and mortar restaurants nationally by 30% this year and has amped up in ghost kitchens plans as well,” Ophir Sternberg, executive chairman of BurgerFi, said in a January press release.
Ghost kitchens became more popular during the COVID-19 pandemic. They are restaurants without dining space and offer curbside pickup or third-party delivery such as through Grubhub or UberEats.
The company has not announced a proposed opening date, pending approvals for construction of its Lakewood Ranch restaurant.
The Green is located on the northeast corner of State Road 70 East and Lakewood Ranch Boulevard. The Green, developed by Orlando-based Tavistock Development Company, is anchored by Winn Dixie and LA Fitness.
Tavistock sold The Green’s retail portion to North American Development Group in 2019. Tavistock still owns and operates the Residences at The Green.
This story was originally published May 25, 2021 at 12:40 PM.
