Meatheads Burgers
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Meatheads Burgers & Fries (commonly referred to as Meatheads) was an American fast-casual retailer of high-end hamburgers and other related menu items based in
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
. The company was founded by Tom Jednorowicz, formerly an executive at
Potbelly Sandwich Works Potbelly Corporation, more commonly known as Potbelly Sandwich Shop or Potbelly Sandwich Works, is a publicly traded American fast-casual restaurant chain that focuses on submarine sandwiches and milkshakes. Potbelly was founded in 1977 in Chicag ...
and
Einstein Bros. Bagels Einstein Bros. Bagels is an American chain of bagel cafes. In the 1990s, the company bought out several retail bagel chains from regions around the US which lacked bagel traditions. After filing for bankruptcy in 2000, the company was bought out ...
, and Doug Reichl, founder of Tartan Realty Group. Meatheads started in
Bloomington, Illinois Bloomington is a city in McLean County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census showed the city had a population of 78,680, making it the List of municipalities in Illinois, 13th-most populous ci ...
in 2007 and became a popular spot among students of
Illinois State University Illinois State University (ISU) is a public research university in Normal, Illinois, United States. It was founded in 1857 as Illinois State Normal University and is the oldest public university in Illinois. The university emphasizes teachin ...
and the popular young crowd. The company went on to open fourteen more locations in the
Chicago area The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities ...
, first entering that market in 2009. As of October 2016, 17 locations were in operation, one of which was 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 List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...
near the
University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...
campus. Among a growing number of specialty burger chains in the United States, Meatheads attempted to differentiate from its competition such as
Five Guys Five Guys Enterprises, LLC (doing business as Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Five Guys) is an American multinational fast food chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and french fries. It is headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia. The first F ...
and Smashburger by cutting a customer's fries in front of them, similar to west-coast based
In-N-Out Burger In-N-Out Burgers, doing business as In-N-Out Burger, is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and to a lesser extent the Southwest from Oregon to Texas. It was founded in Baldwin Park, Ca ...
. Meatheads described 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 was solely composed of company-owned stores, and never implemented a franchise model. In 2019, the partners sold the company to Crave Brands, LLC. 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. In September 2023, Epic Burger acquired the remaining six Meatheads locations and began the process of converting them to Epic Burger, starting with the Northbrook location. As of July 2024, only two locations remained, and were later replaced as well.


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* 2007 establishments in Illinois Companies based in Bloomington–Normal Defunct hamburger restaurants Defunct restaurant chains in the United States Fast casual restaurants Hamburger restaurants in the United States Regional restaurant chains in the United States Restaurants established in 2007 Restaurants in Illinois American companies established in 2007 American companies disestablished in 2024 Restaurants disestablished in 2024 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2021 __FORCETOC__ {{Restaurants in Chicago