Texas-based fast-casual concept eyes growth outside Lone Star State
Hat Creek Burger Co. continues to highlight its family-focus, with kids’ play areas and expansive patios, as it eyes areas for growth, according to Drew Gressett, the company founder and president.
The 26-unit Austin, Texas-based burger brand has locations, all company-owned, in the major cities of Austin, Dallas and Houston and areas between.
Hat Creek started in 2008 as a food truck and then moved into an Arby’s conversion. In its current incarnation, opened in 2011, it developed the playground and patio focus, said Gressett, who also leads 1788 Chicken, a large franchisee of the Zaxby’s concept.
“Our concept today really revolves around the family,” Gressett said in a Nation’s Restaurant News video interview, with “what we call burger patios — indoor-outdoor spaces where parents can grab a beer and the kids can run loose on a playground.”
Hat Creek is currently worked with the Austin-based creative agency Guerilla Suit to help evolve the brand, Gressett said.
With best-sellers being the Sombrero and classic cheeseburgers, Gressett expects little change to the menu of tacos, cheeseburgers, chicken tenders and milk shakes. Salad and gluten-free options are also available.
Some locations offer breakfast, Gressett said, and those units may have a morning daypart mix of 10% of sales. Generally, though, daypart mix is 50-50 between lunch and dinner, he said.
A big help during the COVID-19 pandemic and its related dining-room restrictions were Hat Creek’s patios and 24 of the 26 units offer drive-thrus, Gressett noted.
The company has recently expanded its corporate development and real estate teams as it eyes growth, he said, and Georgia is a possible state for expansion.
Potential for expanding craft beers on the menu is also ahead, he said.
“We had a good beer crowd and through some of the pandemic, I think you know that's been diluted a little bit,” Gressett said. “I think that there's a huge opportunity to have our patios full of people enjoying unique craft beers that are that are largely local.”
Update Feb. 9, 2022: This story has been edited to correct the agency name Guerilla Suit.
Contact Ron Ruggless at [email protected]
Follow him on Twitter: @RonRuggless
