Established 2007 (2007) Website burgerlounge.com | Food type fast casual | |
Other locations San Diego, California and Los Angeles, California | ||
Burger Lounge is an American fast casual restaurant chain that specializes in hamburgers made from American grass-fed beef, salads, shakes, French fries and onion rings. Burger Lounge is headquartered in San Diego, California. In 2007, J. Dean Loring and Michael Gilligan founded the company in La Jolla, California. J. Dean Loring is the President and CEO of Burger Lounge.
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History
J. Dean Loring, the son of butcher, opened three restaurants prior to founding Burger Lounge. Loring established Stars Hamburgers, in Northern California's Humboldt County in 1989. In 2007, he partnered with Michael Gillian, a bank CFO, to found the first Burger Lounge in La Jolla, California. Burger Lounge partnered with Karp Reilly, a private equity firm based in Connecticut, in 2011. In 2012, Forbes travel guide included Burger Lounge in its list of "America's 10 Best Burgers". Fastcasual.com ranked the restaurant 21st on its list of "Top 100 Movers and Shakers" in 2012.
In April 2013, Burger Lounge opened its first location in North County, San Diego. That year, the restaurant had seven location in San Diego, California and four in the Los Angeles, California area. LA Weekly named the restaurant "Best New Restaurant" in 2013. The restaurant was also voted "Best Burger" by San Diego Magazine in 2014 year. The restaurant previously received the title in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. In 2014, the restaurant group had 13 locations.
Products
Burger Lounge serves hamburgers consisting of grass-fed beef. The meat is sourced from two ranches. The menu also includes organic quinoa veggie burgers, free-range turkey burgers, chicken tenders (referred to as "Chicken Digglers"), Albacore tuna sandwiches, salads, French fries, onion rings and shakes. The restaurant uses locally sourced, organic, farm-raised, regional and seasonal ingredients.
Corporate responsibility
The restaurants' food waste is composted, post-industrial packaging is biodegradable and used cooking oil is used to power delivery vehicles. Burger Lounge utilizes used cooking oil converted to biofuel by NewLeaf to power its delivery vehicles. In July 2012, the restaurant donated proceeds from sales to local student-run community supported agriculture (CSA) and school gardening programs. Burger Lounge uses recyclable products and is green certified.