After years in the planning, BurgerFuel has finally opened its first store in the United States. The flagship store is on a standalone site in Broad Ripple, Indianapolis, a suburb filled with bars and eateries as well as four large universities. The opening was initially set to go ahead in partnership with Franchise Brands, which owns Subway. However, these plans were derailed after the death of Subway co-founder Fred de Luca in 2015 and BurgerFuel decided to go it alone. The company decided on Indianapolis due to a catchment of about 65 million people within a three- to four-hour drive.
"There's a lot less gourmet food offerings in that central area and we feel that we could be regarded as being quite innovative, rather than perhaps going straight into Los Angeles or somewhere like that," said Josef Roberts, BurgerFuel CEO. "Indianapolis also has a strong car culture which fits the BurgerFuel brand, but the main reason was geographically it was a good place for us to expand out from."
