Burger Lounge is an American

fast casual restaurant A fast casual restaurant, found primarily in the United States and Canada, does not offer full table service, but advertises higher quality food than fast food restaurants, with fewer frozen or processed ingredients. It is an intermediate concep ...

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 San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

. In 2007, J. Dean Loring and Michael Gilligan founded the company in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. J. Dean Loring is the President and

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of Burger Lounge.

History

J. Dean Loring, the son of a 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 open the first Burger Lounge in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego. Burger Lounge partnered with Karp Reilly, a private equity firm based in Connecticut, in 2011. In 2012, ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' 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 second

North County North County is a region in the northern area of San Diego County, California. It is the second-most populous region in the county (after San Diego), with an estimated population of 869,322. North County is well known for its affluence, especiall ...

location in

San Diego County San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,298,634, making it California's second-most populous county and the fi ...

. That year, the restaurant opened seven locations in the San Diego area and four in the

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

area. ''

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

'' named the restaurant "Best New Restaurant" in 2013. The restaurant was also voted "Best Burger" by ''San Diego Magazine'' in 2014. The restaurant previously received the title in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2012. In 2014, the restaurant group had 13 locations.

References

{{reflist, 30em Fast-food franchises Fast-food chains of the United States Fast-food hamburger restaurants Restaurants established in 2007 2007 establishments in California

History

See also

References