Operations
The Habit Burger Grill delivering much more than great burgers during pandemic
The fast casual brand, which operates 306 restaurants and 10 catering food trucks, has been busy serving up kindness, compassion and support to those on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.
April 8, 2021 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
When COVID-19 hit the U.S. in the spring of 2020, many a food truck and restaurant collapsed from the onslaught of challenges, which range from mandated municipal shutdown orders, to limited seating rules, to stay-at home orders and the pandemic's impact on the global supply chain.
But that wasn't, and isn't, the situation at The Habit Burger Grill, a fast casual brand founded in Santa Barbara, California in 1969, which operates 306 restaurants as well as 10 catering food trucks in Southern California. It launched its first catering food truck in 2011 and has four more trucks in development by builders Wyss Bros Trucks & Trailers Inc.
In 2020 it became part of parent company Yum! Brands Inc., a restaurant conglomerate with more than 50,000 locations across more than 150 countries and territories. The Habit Burger Grill, which has locations in China and Cambodia, aims to open 50 more locations in 2021.
At its start, The Habit Burger Grill had a simple philosophy — high-quality food and great service at reasonable prices. But it also believes just as strongly in giving back and supporting the community.
In the past 12 months that "community" has been those on the COVID-19 frontline – healthcare workers — and the "giving back" is focused on providing complimentary meals via the brand's fleet of catering food trucks.
Over the past year that's amounted to over 30,000 meals and climbing, throughout Southern California, with free food served at several of the largest vaccination sites in the U.S. Donation locations have included Disneyland, Dodgers Stadium, Petco Park, Dignity Health Sports Park, Anaheim Convention Center and the Long Beach Convention Center.
Making a community connection
The quest, according to the company's CEO and President Russ Bendel, is one of recognition and appreciation. It's also about connection and recognizing that everyone is all in this together.
"We saw an opportunity to provide comfort to those serving our communities and hit the ground running to see what we could do during that hectic period of time. Our catering truck team is full of amazing team members that wanted to give back — their hospitality is unmatched," Bendel said in an email interview.
The effort, he said, reflects what many think of when it comes to food — togetherness and connection.
"The last year has been challenging to say the very least. This is more to us than serving up charburgers, it's about connecting with our communities and showing our support for our frontliners," he said.
The pandemic support effort isn't the first time the brand has stepped up to help others. Since its founding it has given back to communities in various ways, from supporting school programs to local charities. Each September it partners with No Kid Hungry, which aims to stem food insecurity in the U.S.
"Since giving back is in our DNA, we look forward to finding more opportunities to give back in the next year," said Bendel.
The brand has already found some opportunities this year. It launched and completed a social contest (via the hashtag #HabitCelebratingHeroes) in which healthcare workers nominated their teams to win a complimentary Habit Catering Truck. Contest entries numbered over 650. The brand is processing the winning entry as of this week and expects to announce the winner in the near future.
The fast casual brand has also made commitments to partner with delivery platform Uber to donate and distribute ride vouchers for those in need of transportation to a vaccination center. From March 31 through April 27, The Habit Burger Grill launched a donation initiative benefiting For the Frontlines, in which customers can round up their total checkout cost to support the organization which offers a crisis text line for healthcare and essential workers.
About Judy Mottl
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