The Habit Burger Grill ~ national chain : Gilbert, Arizona

First visit: Nov 2022 (Gilbert, AZ)

Locations: As noted below, The Habit has the darnedest growth strategy I've ever seen. Essentially they are growing on both the left and right coasts, while completely ignoring the middle. They have made it to Utah, so it would seem Colorado could be soon. I bet they open on Interquest in Colorado Springs (haha). They currently have over 300 locations.

Today we begin 3 long days of discussion and customer meetings. Those don't start until the early afternoon, so I needed to ensure I had lunch to fuel the remainder of the day until our (later) dinner. I was just looking for a burger - nothing too heavy - when a pile of places showed up near my hotel. All national or regional chains that I can get back in Colorado Springs. RJG Rule #1 when traveling: Don't eat at any place that you can easily have at home. The one place that stood out differently was The Habit Burger Grill.

I have somehow managed to get to late 2022 without ever hearing of a place called The Habit Burger Grill. They are clearly the latest rage in hamburgers, with a high growth plan similar to Shake Shack. In looking at their history, it appears they started in 1969 in the Santa Barbara (California) area. They remained independent for 27 years before opening a second location in Ventura. And then they got rolling. It wasn't until 2014 that they started to go beyond their southern Californian roots. And that explains why I hadn't run into them, because of the areas they were expanding in - I was no longer traveling to. More on their locations and odd growth strategy later on in the article.

This particular location sits in a sea of fast food franchises, with some Asian options I haven't tried. Perhaps the next time. Since it was my first visit, I wanted to eat inside, rather than the drive thru option. Pretty good size for a fast food establishment. Order up and they give you the buzzing ashtray that says "Better to wait a short time for your burger than have your burger wait a long time for you". I like that! So yes, you're getting a freshly made hamburger. I had what they call a Charburger (they all have to have these trademarked names it appears) with cheese. These days I usually just get it the way they make it, figuring they know what they do best. I usually do remove the tomato because simply I don't like them when they're whole. They don't do any fancy signature sauces - which are usually variations on Thousand Island dressing. Nope - just mayo. Which is really my least favorite of the dressings, but it was lightly coated, which was nice. The cheese was nice and gooey similar to In-N-Out. As we look for comparisons, I think we're definitely in the same league with the aforementioned In-N-Out, though Shake Shack also came to mind. I only had a single since I was looking more for a holdover snack than a huge lunch (see photo). If I was my more normal hungry self, then a double would be necessary. Because of this, I didn't go for fries, but was able to visualize them. They look slightly plump - what I would call "normal fries". And the menu promises they have mocha shakes. Oh boy, did I want one of those too. But a full day of meetings ahead made the answer of no easy. Overall a very fine burger, that if they were in Colorado Springs, I would make an attempt to visit at least once a year. And have their fries and a shake too...

11/7/22 (new entry)