Pacific Northwest fast food chain Burgerville announced Friday it has found investors to finance its hunger for growth.
Burgerville’s current CEO, Ed Casey, and the former chief executive of coffee chain Dutch Bros., Joth Ricci, are investing in a deal that the Vancouver-based company expects to close by Monday. The chain’s founding family will also continue to remain as shareholders. The company did not share financial details about the arrangement.
The Vancouver-based chain Burgerville has 39 restaurants in Oregon and Washington.
Molly Solomon / Oregon Public Broadcasting
Casey and the rest of the current management team will remain in place, Burgerville said in a press release, and Ricci will become executive chairman.
“Burgerville was a pioneer in sustainability and local long before those were industry buzzwords,” Ricci said in a statement. “I’m excited to be able to play a role in the next leg of the Burgerville journey.”
The chain, founded in 1961, is known for its focus on Pacific Northwest ingredients and for seasonal specials that highlight the region’s Walla Walla onions, berries, asparagus and other farm products. It’s also been a focus of labor organizing efforts, with a three-and-a-half-year unionization effort culminating in a contract signed between the company’s management and the Burgerville Workers Union in December 2021.
The chain has 39 restaurants from Centralia, Washington, to Corvallis; company officials aim to open at least six more locations in the next year.