The Chico-grown company known for letting customers build a burger to their liking is now building a franchise operation.
Burger Hut has everything in place to start taking applications for franchising, having worked for the past year arranging legalities and details.
“We heard it often: ‘Do you offer franchises?’ ” said director of franchising Rick Kusie.
Inside the first year, the company hopes to have nine Burger Hut locations up and running. There are already talks occurring with potential owners, but no franchising contracts have been inked.
“It’s a middle-of-the-road growth strategy,” said Kusie.
With the company since 1999, Kusie married into the business begun in 1978 by his parents-in-law, Jim and Priscilla Williams. His wife, Erin, grew up in the business, and the couple ran the second Burger Hut for a number of years.
The local company has stood up to individual and chain competition citywide, including the goliath In N Out, which opened one day after the Forest Avenue Burger Hut.
At last count, Chico supports 31 businesses that serve burgers as their primary food, and Burger Hut has thrived, said Kusie. Family members have eaten at all the competition, seeing just what made the experience pleasant or disappointing.
Now with three stores in Chico and one in Yuba City, the family believes Burger Hut has a solid local reputation for its custom-made burgers and heaping fries platter.
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