Burger Kings, McDonald’s and Wendy's are found on nearly every major road in New Jersey – with bright lights vying for your attention and quick-served meals vying for your dollar.
But in the last few years, burger restaurants of a different sort have opened throughout the state. Where once diners and fast-food joints were the only places to find a hamburger, now a number of new chains are raising the burger bar. Fancier than fast-food and cheaper than fine-dining, these eateries are taking a big bite out of the burger market.
"Better burger" restaurants constitute about 3 percent of a $65 billion burger market in the U.S. but their share is growing at about 25 percent each year, according to Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, a food service industry consultant who produced a report earlier this year about the burger market.
Tomorrow, Smashburger, the Denver-based chain that touts specialty burgers, will open in Terminal C at Newark Airport.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: The Star-Ledger (Newark, NJ).
