& fries llc type fast casual restaurant founded 2007 2007 founder tom jednorowicz headquarters bloomington illinois united states website www.meatheadsburgers.com meatheads burgers & fries commonly referred to as meatheads is a united states fast food retailer of high end hamburgers and other related menu items based in illinois . the company was founded by tom jednorowicz formerly an executive at potbelly sandwich works and einstein bros. bagels . 1 2 meatheads started in bloomington illinois in 2007 3 4 and became a popular spot among students of illinois state university . the company has since opened fourteen more locations in the chicago area first entering that market in 2009 . 5 6 7 among a growing number of specialty burger chains in the united states 8 meatheads attempts to differentiate from its competition such as five guys and smashburger by cutting a customer s fries in front of them similar to west coast based in n out burger . meatheads describes 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 is currently composed of company owned stores and has not implemented a franchise model . 9 notes edit fisher jennifer 12 march 2011 . burger joint serves up fries milkshakes and acts of kindness northbrook patch brandau mark 16 november 2009 . meatheads burgers and fries paces itself for steady growth nation s restaurant news arney steve 20 december 2007 . meat heads keeps it simple the pantagraph wolinsky david . 16 november 2012 . meatheads tom jednorowicz on hiring trends in the food biz nbc chicago dolinsky steve 6 february 2009 . first friday burger & fries abc 7 chicago bendersky ari . 15 august 2012 . meatheads burgers & fries headed to roscoe village chicago eater lazare lewis . 25 september 2012 . meatheads finally opens in chicago chicago business journal barakat matthew associated press writer 12 july 2010 . hungry americans crave bigger better burger joints winnipeg free press bertagnoli lisa 14 march 2011 . franchise no thanks these firms prefer to fly solo crain s chicago business references edit how a burger chain picks a site . chain leader magazine . november 1 2009 . retrieved december 23 2012 . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title meatheads burgers % 26 fries & oldid 626004920 categories 2007 establishments in illinoiscompanies based in bloomington normal illinoisfast casual restaurantshamburger restaurantsregional restaurant chains in the united statesrestaurants established in 2007restaurants in illinoisamerican companies established in 2007 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 17 september 2014 at 22 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view