Yet Another Chain Will Enter Houston’s Crowded Burger Field

Hat Creek Burger Company, an Austin-based burger chain that’s taking over Texas, has announced plans to bring multiple locations to Houston.

The growing fast-casual burger chain will open four restaurants in as-yet-unnamed locations in the Houston area next year, according to a press release. It’s a continuation of Hat Creek Burger Company’s ongoing expansion across the state, which brought outposts of the burger joint to multiple suburbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth area in 2017.

Hat Creek Burger Company is known for its burgers (the beef is purportedly never frozen), breakfast tacos, and milkshakes in flavors like the Grasshopper (mint and chocolate) and birthday cake. The chain started off as a food truck in Austin in 2008, and opened its first permanent location in 2011. It currently operates ten outposts, with plans to double that number with 10 additional new restaurants opening across the state in 2018 and 2019.

Of course, Hat Creek will have to convince Houstonians that it is somehow different from the dozens of already-open burger chains in Houston, including BuffBurger, Rodeo Goat, Shake Shack, Hopdoddy Burger Bar, and local favorite The Burger Joint.

Hat Creek’s first Houston location is expected to arrive early next year. Stay tuned for more details on where this chain will land.

• Austin’s Hat Creek Burger Co. Plots DFW Expansion [EDFW]