Earth Burger

Earth Burger is a vegan fast-food restaurant chain headquartered in San Antonio, Texas. The brand was founded in 2014 by co-owners associated with Green Vegetarian Cuisine, including executive chef Mike Behrend and Paul and Ellen Evans. Its founding team was connected with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, a community with a long-established interest in vegetarian and plant-forward eating. Jeff Sinelli, the founder of Sinelli Concepts and Which Wich?, helped the team raise $43,000 through Kickstarter to support the launch. The concept began as a vegetarian fast-food restaurant and opened its first location at the Park North Shopping Center in San Antonio. Earth Burger is described as the first fast-food restaurant in the United States to serve a plant-based menu. Its early proposition combined the speed and familiarity of fast food with meat-free alternatives, including veggie burgers, plant-based sandwiches, fries, and tater tots. This positioned the company within the expanding market for convenient vegetarian and vegan food rather than as a conventional full-service vegetarian restaurant. In 2017, Earth Burger changed its menu and operating concept from vegetarian to fully vegan. This was a significant positioning decision because it removed animal-derived ingredients from the restaurant's core offering and gave the brand a more clearly defined plant-based identity. Its menu has included the Classic Burger, Ranchero, Chik-n Sandwich, Breakfast Wrap, french fries, and tater tots. These products are designed to replicate familiar American fast-food formats while using plant-based ingredients. The company expanded beyond its original San Antonio site during the late 2010s. In early 2018, it opened a location at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. That location later closed in November 2019. In June 2018, Earth Burger opened a second San Antonio restaurant in a former Church's Texas Chicken location. On August 19, 2018, it opened a restaurant in San Marcos, Texas; that site subsequently closed on January 26, 2024. The closures indicate that the brand's physical footprint has changed over time, although Earth Burger remains identified with San Antonio and its plant-based fast-food model. In October 2022, Earth Burger partnered with Sinelli Concepts to pursue franchising across the United States. A franchise launch event was held in November of that year for prospective operators. The initiative represented a shift from company-operated expansion toward a model intended to broaden the brand's geographic reach through franchise partners. In January 2023, Oomi Digital Kitchen became the first restaurant in Dallas to offer an Earth Burger menu digitally, extending the brand's availability through a digital restaurant format rather than a conventional Earth Burger storefront. Earth Burger's brand proposition is built around accessible vegan fast food: familiar burgers and chicken-style sandwiches, quick-service preparation, and side dishes associated with mainstream American restaurants. Its history reflects the development of plant-based dining from a specialist vegetarian niche into a format designed for shopping centers, former fast-food locations, franchise development, and digital food-service channels.

Earth Burger was established in San Antonio in 2014 by members of the team behind Green Vegetarian Cuisine. The founding group included executive chef Mike Behrend and co-owners Paul and Ellen Evans. The founders were associated with the Seventh-day Adventist Church, whose traditions include an emphasis on vegetarian eating. Jeff Sinelli, known for founding Sinelli Concepts and Which Wich?, assisted the group in raising $43,000 through Kickstarter. The first Earth Burger restaurant opened at San Antonio's Park North Shopping Center. The concept was designed as a fast-food restaurant centered on plant-based food and is described as the first fast-food restaurant in the United States to serve a plant-based menu. At launch, the restaurant was vegetarian rather than strictly vegan. Its early menu format used familiar fast-food categories, including veggie burgers, sandwiches, fries, and other quick-service sides. In 2017, Earth Burger made its most consequential menu change by becoming fully vegan. The transition sharpened the brand's identity and aligned all of its core offerings with a strictly plant-based proposition. The menu has included the Classic Burger, Ranchero, Chik-n Sandwich, Breakfast Wrap, french fries, and tater tots. These offerings place the brand in the broader category of vegan fast food, emphasizing recognizable formats instead of presenting plant-based food solely as specialty or health-oriented cuisine. The company pursued geographic expansion in 2018. It opened a restaurant at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota, early that year. The location later closed in November 2019. In June 2018, Earth Burger opened a second San Antonio site in a former Church's Texas Chicken restaurant. On August 19, 2018, it opened a location in San Marcos, Texas. That restaurant eventually closed on January 26, 2024. The documented openings and later closures show an evolving physical network rather than uninterrupted store growth. Earth Burger began exploring a more scalable expansion structure in 2022. In early October, it partnered with Sinelli Concepts to franchise the brand across the United States. A November launch party introduced the opportunity to prospective franchise operators. Franchising was intended to extend the concept beyond its original San Antonio base and create a route to national distribution without relying exclusively on company-operated restaurants. The brand also entered a digital restaurant channel. In January 2023, Oomi Digital Kitchen became the first restaurant in Dallas to offer an Earth Burger menu digitally. This arrangement broadened access to the menu through a digital kitchen format and illustrated how the brand could reach markets without a conventional Earth Burger storefront. Across its history, Earth Burger has remained associated with quick-service vegan food. Its core approach is to adapt familiar American fast-food products into plant-based versions, pairing burgers and chicken-style sandwiches with breakfast items and standard sides. The available reference material does not establish a current store count, current ownership structure, detailed corporate leadership, financial performance, or a complete list of operating locations. Those matters therefore remain unconfirmed in this entry.

• 2024

  San Marcos location closes

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  The San Marcos restaurant closed on January 26.

• 2023

  Digital menu reaches Dallas

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  Oomi Digital Kitchen became the first Dallas restaurant to offer Earth Burger items digitally.

• 2022

  Franchise expansion partnership

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  Earth Burger partnered with Sinelli Concepts to develop franchising across the United States.

• 2019

  Mall of America location closes

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  The Bloomington, Minnesota, location closed in November.

• 2018

  Expansion beyond the original San Antonio site

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  Earth Burger opened at the Mall of America, added a second San Antonio restaurant, and opened a location in San Marcos.

• 2017

  The brand becomes fully vegan

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  Earth Burger changed from a vegetarian restaurant to an all-vegan fast-food concept.

• 2014

  Earth Burger launches in San Antonio

  [1]Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org

  The first location opened at Park North Shopping Center after the founding team raised launch funding through Kickstarter.

Accessible vegan fast food offering familiar American burgers, sandwiches, breakfast items, and sides through restaurant, franchise, and digital food-service formats.

• Vegan burger

  Classic Burger

  A core Earth Burger menu item built around the brand's plant-based fast-food proposition. It uses the familiar classic burger format while fitting the restaurant's all-vegan menu introduced in 2017.

• Vegan burger

  Ranchero

  A plant-based burger offering with a ranchero-oriented flavor profile. It is one of the named burger products associated with Earth Burger's menu.

• Plant-based sandwich

  Chik-n Sandwich

  A vegan chicken-style sandwich designed for the fast-food category. The product extends Earth Burger's use of recognizable quick-service formats beyond beef-style veggie burgers.

• Vegan breakfast

  Breakfast Wrap

  A plant-based breakfast item that broadens the brand's daypart coverage beyond lunch and dinner. It is listed among Earth Burger's named menu offerings.

• Side dish

  French fries

  A standard fast-food side offered as part of Earth Burger's vegan menu.

• Side dish

  Tater tots

  A potato-based side associated with the brand's quick-service menu and served alongside its plant-based burgers and sandwiches.

• 2022Franchise launch event

  United States

  After partnering with Sinelli Concepts to pursue nationwide franchising, Earth Burger held a November event for prospective franchisees.

  Outcome. The event introduced the franchise opportunity; subsequent franchise rollout details are not established by the reference material.

  Source
• 2014Kickstarter launch fundraising

  United States

  The founding team used Kickstarter to raise $43,000 to help launch Earth Burger's first restaurant in San Antonio.

  Outcome. The campaign supported the opening of the Park North Shopping Center location.

  Source

• 2023

  Digital menu launch through Oomi Digital KitchenProduct launch

  Background

  Digital kitchens provided a way to make Earth Burger products available in markets without a standard branded restaurant.

  Action taken

  Oomi Digital Kitchen began offering an Earth Burger menu digitally in Dallas.

  Aftermath

  Oomi became the first Dallas restaurant to offer Earth Burger products through this digital format.

  Source

• 2022

  Move toward nationwide franchisingStrategy

  Background

  Earth Burger had operated a limited group of physical locations and sought a model for broader geographic expansion.

  Action taken

  The company partnered with Sinelli Concepts to franchise Earth Burger across the United States.

  Aftermath

  A franchise launch event was held in November for prospective operators, but the reference material does not document the resulting store count or franchise agreements.

  Source

• 2017

  Transition from vegetarian to fully veganStrategy

  Background

  Earth Burger began as a vegetarian fast-food restaurant but operated in a market increasingly associated with strictly vegan plant-based concepts.

  Action taken

  The company changed its menu and concept so that Earth Burger became fully vegan.

  Aftermath

  The change established a clearer vegan identity for the brand and shaped its subsequent menu positioning.

  Source

1. 1Earth Burgeren.wikipedia.org