Meatheads Burgers & Fries (commonly referred to as Meatheads) is an American fast food retailer of high-end

hamburgers A hamburger, or simply burger, is a food consisting of fillings—usually a patty of ground meat, typically beef—placed inside a sliced bun or bread roll. Hamburgers are often served with cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickles, bacon, or ...

and other related menu items based in

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. The company was founded by Tom Jednorowicz, formerly an executive at

Potbelly Sandwich Works Potbelly Corporation is a publicly traded American fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on submarine sandwiches and milkshakes. Potbelly was founded in 1977 in Chicago, and its name refers to the potbelly stove. Potbelly's menu features a va ...

and

Einstein Bros. Bagels Einstein Bros. Bagels is an American chain that specializes in bagels and coffee. In 1996, Berkeley-based Noah's Bagels was bought out by Einstein Bros. Manhattan-based New World Coffee, which bought out Manhattan Bagel in 1998, bought out Einste ...

.Fisher, Jennifer (12 March 2011)
Burger Joint Serves Up Fries, Milkshakes And Acts of Kindness
''Northbrook Patch''Brandau, Mark (16 November 2009)
Meatheads Burgers and Fries paces itself for steady growth
''

Nation's Restaurant News ''Nation's Restaurant News'' (''NRN'') is an American trade publication, founded in 1967, that covers the foodservice industry, including restaurants, restaurant chains, operations, marketing, and events. It was owned by Penton Media (acquired by ...

'' Meatheads started in

Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city and the county seat of McLean County, Illinois, United States. It is adjacent to the town of Normal, and is the more populous of the two principal municipalities of the Bloomington–Normal metropolitan area. Bloomington ...

in 2007Arney, Steve (20 December 2007)
Meat Heads keeps it simple
''

The Pantagraph ''The Pantagraph'' is a daily newspaper that serves Bloomington–Normal, Illinois, along with 60 communities and eight counties in the Central Illinois area. Its headquarters are in Bloomington and it is owned by Lee Enterprises. The name is d ...

''Wolinsky, David. (16 November 2012)
Meatheads' Tom Jednorowicz on Hiring Trends in the Food Biz
''NBC Chicago'' and became a popular spot among students of

Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public university in Normal, Illinois. Founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University, it is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teaching and is recognized as one of th ...

and the popular young crowd. The company has since opened fourteen more locations in the

Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also colloquially referred to as Chicagoland, is a metropolitan area in the Midwestern United States. Encompassing 10,286 sq mi (28,120 km2), the metropolitan area includes the city of Chicago, its suburbs and hint ...

, first entering that market in 2009.Dolinsky, Steve 6 February 2009)
First Friday Burger & Fries
, ''ABC 7 Chicago''Lazare, Lewis. (25 September 2012)

''

Chicago Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'' As of October 2016, 17 locations are in operation, one of which is in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...

near the

University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Universit ...

campus. Among a growing number of specialty burger chains in the United States,Barakat, Matthew (Associated Press writer)(12 July 2010)
Hungry Americans crave bigger, better burger joints
''

Winnipeg Free Press The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...

'' Meatheads attempts to differentiate from its competition such as

Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises LLC (doing business as both Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and simply Five Guys) is an American fast food restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries, and headquartered in Lorton, Virginia, part of Fa ...

and

Smashburger Smashburger IP Holder LLC, doing business as Smashburger, (stylized as SmasHBURGER), is an American fast-casual hamburger restaurant chain founded in Denver, Colorado. As of 2022, it has more than 227 corporate and franchise-owned restaurants in ...

by cutting a customer's fries in front of them, similar to west-coast based

In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burger is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and the Southwest. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006). The cha ...

. Meatheads describes itself as a " fast-casual" chain as opposed to a traditional fast food chain. With reported annual sales in 2011 of approximately $5 million, the chain is currently composed of company-owned stores, and has not implemented a franchise model.Bertagnoli, Lisa (14 March 2011)
Franchise? No thanks: These firms prefer to fly solo
''

Crain's Chicago Business ''Crain's Chicago Business'' is a weekly business newspaper in Chicago, IL. It is owned by Detroit-based Crain Communications, a privately held publishing company with more than 30 magazines, including ''Advertising Age'', ''Modern Healthcare'' ...

'' On April 9, 2021, Meatheads Burgers & Fries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The chain's parent company, Crave Brands LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection the same day.

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External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meatheads Burgers and Fries 2007 establishments in Illinois Companies based in Bloomington–Normal Fast casual restaurants Hamburger restaurants Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 2007 Restaurants in Illinois American companies established in 2007 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 __FORCETOC__