Fatburger North America Inc. (

doing business as A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...

Fatburger) 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. Its tagline is ''The Last Great Hamburger Stand''. While it is a fast food restaurant, the food is cooked and made to order. Some Fatburger restaurants have

liquor license A liquor license (or liquor licence in most forms of Commonwealth English) is a governmentally issued permit to sell, manufacture, store, or otherwise use alcoholic beverages. Canada In Canada, liquor licences are issued by the legal authority ...

s as well as "fat bars." Its franchise headquarters are in

Beverly Hills, California Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. B ...

. In addition to the United States, the chain operates in 19 other countries. The Fatburger menu is centered primarily on hamburgers, offering various sizes and numbers of patties, along with add-ons such as cheese, bacon and eggs.

History

Fatburger was founded by

Lovie Yancey Lovie Yancey (January 3, 1912 – January 26, 2008), born in Bastrop, Texas, was the African-American founder of the Fatburger restaurant chain. Founding of Fatburger She originally owned a small restaurant in Tucson. In 1947, she founded Fa ...

(1912–2008) in the neighborhood of Exposition Park in Los Angeles, California, in 1947. It was originally named "Mr. Fatburger" (on behalf of Yancey's boyfriend), until Yancey removed the "Mr." in 1952. At that time, she bought out her start-up partners and retained sole ownership of the Fatburger brand until 1990, keeping and operating the original store on Western Avenue along with the

La Cienega Boulevard La Cienega Boulevard is a major north–south arterial road that runs between El Segundo Boulevard in Hawthorne, California on the south and the Sunset Strip/Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood to the north. It was named for Rancho Las Cienegas, ...

store (La Cienega/San Vicente). Fatburger remained a mostly California-based chain until the late 1990s, when it began an expansion in North America. On August 15, 2003, Fog Cutter Capital Group completed a $7 million investment and financing package for the company. Fatburger operates or

franchises Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

over 150 Fatburger restaurants worldwide with over 300 more planned for future development. For several months in 2006, the company was barred from selling additional franchises in California, due to chairperson Wiederhorn's felony convictions. In 1992, Fatburger gained national attention after being referenced in the hit song "

It Was a Good Day "It Was a Good Day" is a song by American rapper Ice Cube, released on February 23, 1993 as the second single from his third solo album, '' The Predator'' (1992). The song peaked at No. 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and No. ...

" by rapper and actor Ice Cube. It was also referenced by The Notorious B.I.G. in the song " Going Back to Cali". In 2008, Fatburger opened its first restaurant in a sports stadium, the Arizona Diamondbacks'

Chase Field Chase Field, formerly Bank One Ballpark, is a retractable roof stadium in Downtown Phoenix, Arizona. It is the home of Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks. It opened in 1998 Arizona Diamondbacks season, 1998, the year the Diamondbacks ...

. Fatburger also opened its first location in Dubai, U.A.E., (today there are eight). There are also Fatburger eateries in Beijing, PR China. In January 2013, Fatburger opened its first branch in Karachi, Pakistan. Owing to the success of the burgers and positive response in Pakistan, Fatburger opened its biggest flagship outlet globally in June 2013 in Lahore. In July 2015, a branch in Lahore was shut down by authorities due to health and food safety reasons.

Locations

Fatburger has locations in five western states in the United States and Canada, and new locations in China, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Malaysia, the United Kingdom, Fiji, Indonesia, Iraq (including

Iraqi Kurdistan Iraqi Kurdistan or Southern Kurdistan ( ku, باشووری کوردستان, Başûrê Kurdistanê) refers to the Kurdish-populated part of northern Iraq. It is considered one of the four parts of "Kurdistan" in Western Asia, which also incl ...

), India, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Tunisia, Macau, Pakistan, Oman, Panama, Singapore, Philippines, Qatar, and Japan. In some locations, menu changes were made to conform to local customs. It will expand into Texas, in cities like Austin, Dallas, Houston and San Antonio. In 2019, it was announced the first Texas location would be created in

North Richland Hills North Richland Hills, commonly known as NRH, is a city inside Tarrant County, Texas, United States, and a mid-to-high end suburb of Fort Worth. The population was 69,917 at the 2020 census, making it the third largest city in Tarrant County. In ...

Partnerships

Former professional basketball player

Magic Johnson Earvin "Magic" Johnson Jr. (born August 14, 1959) is an American former professional basketball player. He is often regarded as the greatest point guard of all-time and has been compared with Stephen Curry. Johnson played 13 seasons in the ...

, through Johnson Development Corporation, was one of the owners of the parent company. Former talk show host

Montel Williams Montel Brian Anthony Williams (born July 3, 1956) is an American television host, actor and motivational speaker. He is known for hosting the long-running daytime tabloid talk show ''The Montel Williams Show'', which ran in syndication from 1991 ...

co-owns several Fatburger restaurants in Colorado. Bay Area musician

E-40 Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, a ...

also had a stake in the company as a franchise owner, by opening the first San Francisco Bay Area Fatburger restaurant in Pleasant Hill, which is now closed.Current location of Fatburger Headquarters
Actor and musician

Queen Latifah Dana Elaine Owens (born March 18, 1970), known professionally as Queen Latifah, is an American rapper, actress, and singer. Born in Newark, New Jersey, she signed with Tommy Boy Records in 1989 and released her debut album ''All Hail the Que ...

also at one point partnered with Fatburger. In 2007, rapper

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

's restaurant company, KW Foods LLC, struck a deal to open up to 10 Fatburger restaurants in Chicago. Ultimately, in 2009, only two locations actually opened. In February 2011, West shut down the Fatburger located in

Orland Park Orland Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, with a small portion in Will County. The village is a suburb of Chicago. Per the 2020 census, Orland Park had a population of 58,703. Located 25 miles (40 km) southwest of Chicago ...

. Later in 2011 the remaining Beverly location was bought back by the company. R&B musician

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

, in partnership with Fatburger, opened several Fatburger restaurants in China in 2007 and 2008.

In popular culture

Fatburger has been featured and/or seen in TV series and movies: *In the 2001 film ''

Rat Race A rat race is an endless, self-defeating, or pointless pursuit. The phrase equates humans to rats attempting to earn a reward such as cheese, in vain. It may also refer to a competitive struggle to get ahead financially or routinely. The term is ...

'', the Pear family were sitting inside a Fatburger. Later, Randy Pear buys sleeping pills and puts them in his family's milkshakes. *In the 2016 film '' Get a Job'', Hank Diller is at his desk with food from Fatburger. *On season 1 episode entitled "Tickets for a Queue" of the

Apple TV+ Apple TV is a digital media player and microconsole developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is a small network appliance hardware that plays received media data such as video and audio to a television set or external display. Since its secon ...

series '' Trying'', Jason and Erica are having a meal at Fatburger.

References

External links