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Umami Burger

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Umami Burger
Company typePrivate
FoundedLos Angeles, California, U.S.A. (2009)
FounderAdam Fleischman
HeadquartersLos Angeles, California
Number of locations
24 (2014)
Area served
California, Illinois, Nevada, New York
Owner
Websitewww.umamiburger.com

Umami Burger is an American restaurant chain that specializes in serving hamburgers. The name refers to umami (savory) flavor, which is outside of the traditionally accepted tastes of salty, sweet, bitter, and sour.[1][2] The restaurant was founded by Adam Fleischman, and is part of the Umami Restaurant Group. After opening its first location in Los Angeles in 2009, Umami Burger had branches in California and Florida as of 2013. Unlike most burger restaurants, it has waiter service and most locations have a full bar.[3]

History

Fleischman was an aspiring screenwriter in 1998 when he moved to Los Angeles.[4] In 2005, while eating a double cheeseburger at In-N-Out Burger—a cherished indulgence of his—Fleischman pondered over the reason behind the popularity of burger and pizza restaurants in America. The word umami came to mind, a term he had seen on food blogs and in books by renowned British chef Heston Blumenthal. It was then that Fleischman envisioned the financial potential of expanding on the basic burger and its umami properties.[4][5] At the time, he was managing a wine business, BottleRock Wine Bar in Culver City, which he co-owned and later sold.[1][5] He then held a variety of consulting positions and started another wine bar.[5]

In 2009, Fleischman went to Mitsuwa Marketplace in West Los Angeles and bought any ingredient he could find with umami properties. He experimented for a month in his kitchen mixing seaweeds, miso, fish sauce, soy, cheeses, and pungent dried fish with a blender. He then opened his first Umami Burger with $40,000 from his sale of BottleRock.[2][4][5] Located in Los Angeles on South La Brea Avenue,[1] it replaced a failed Korean-taco shop.[4]

Fleischman later partnered with hospitality-group SBE, Nîmes Capital, and Fortress Investment Group to expand the chain.[1][4][6] After multiple openings in Los Angeles,[1] it expanded to the San Francisco Bay Area in 2011.[7] The original La Brea location closed in 2013 after its four-year lease expired; the site could sit only 60 people and lacked a liquor license, and it no longer fit the company's plans.[6] Later that year, the first East Coast branch opened in Miami Beach, Florida,[8] and New York locations were also scheduled to be opened.[9]

Umami's signature burger featuring a Parmesan crisp and roasted tomato.

The restaurant's burgers feature 6-ounce (170 g) beef patties, mostly from American Wagyu beef, that are coarsely ground in-house.[3][4] The meat is seasoned with Umami Sauce—which contains soy sauce—and Umami Dust that includes ground-up dried porcini mushrooms and dried fish heads.[5] Fleischman said that no monosodium glutamate (MSG) is added, despite claims to the contrary.[5] Their tomatoes are slow-baked overnight with a soy-based sauce, enhancing its umami properties. Parmesan, which is also umami-rich, is offered as a cheese crisp. The burgers are served on a soft, Portuguese-style bun that meet Fleischman's desire for a basic supermarket-style bun that also feels artisanal.[4]

Umami Burger offers over a dozen different burgers, and substitutions are discouraged.[3][5] Priced at over $10, their burgers are more expensive than those at fast food restaurants.[10] Their signature Original Burger includes the Parmesan crisp, shiitake mushrooms, roasted tomato, caramelized onions, and a house ketchup.[11][12] In 2010, Umami Burger was named Burger of the Year by Alan Richman of GQ.[13] Fleischman says that the food between their restaurant locations is not designed to each taste the same. "We want our customers to have a unique experience. We wanted to be a restaurant group, not a chain," he said.[4]

In 2014, Umami restaurants in California announced a partnership with Coolhaus, a Los Angeles-based ice cream sandwich maker, to offer rotating flavors of their gourmet, all-natural ice cream sandwiches on the dessert menu.[14]

Company overview

Umami Burger is part of the Umami Restaurant Group, which Fleischman founded and served as chief executive officer, until he was replaced in July 2014.[15] The logo for the burger chain is an abstract graphic resembling a hamburger bun.[5] As early as 2011, Umami Burger obtained additional trademark rights in the United States for the use of the word umami from a restaurant named Umami Café in New York.[a]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The Los Angeles Times and The New Yorker wrote in 2011 that Fleishman owned the trademark to the word umami.[1][2] As of June 2013, trademarks with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) for Umami Cafe—originally registered by Umami Cafe, Inc. in Croton-on-Hudson, New York—list "UMAMI BURGER LICENSING GROUP USA" as the last listed owner.[16] The USPTO also had other trademarks for the word umami.[17]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Gelt, Jessica (August 11, 2011). "Umami Burger's brand sizzles with SBE backing". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ a b c Goodyear, Dana (December 14, 2011). "All Hail The Umami Burger". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b c Fabricant, Florence (October 23, 2012). "Umami Burger Is Coming to New York". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h Platt, Adam (May 26, 2013). "Umami Burger Comes to New York, Armed With One Addictive Ingredient". New York. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Bargar Suter, Leslie (May 1, 2012). "Empire of the Bun". Los Angeles. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Lacter, Mark (February 26, 2013). "Umami Burger shuts first store, picks up more investors for expansion". LAObserved.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ Lucchesi, Paolo (January 16, 2013). "Umami Burger taking big bite of Bay Area". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  8. ^ Doss, Laine (May 10, 2013). "Adam Fleischman, Umami Burger Founder and CEO: "We'll Resonate With Miami"". Miami New Times. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ Fabricant, Florence (March 8, 2013). "Umami Burger to Open in Williamsburg". The New York Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Bennert, Jason (April 19, 2013). "Quick Bite: Umami Burger in Palo Alto". San Jose Mercury News. Archived from the original on June 8, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ Hallock, Betty (June 7, 2013). "Small Bites: Umami Burger (II) and Salaryman in Los Feliz; Raphael in Studio City; Philippe on Melrose". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  12. ^ "Umami Santa Monica". umami.com. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  13. ^ Richman, Alan (June 7, 2013). "Burger of the Year". GQ. Archived from the original on June 7, 2013. {{cite news}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  14. ^ Luna, Nancy (May 6, 2014). "Burger-ice cream marriage: Coolhaus and Umami hookup". Orange County Register. Retrieved October 27, 2014.
  15. ^ "Umami Restaurant Group Unveils Flagship Umami Burger Location at The Grove" (Press release). Umami Burger. August 11, 2011. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 10, 2013. {{cite press release}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  16. ^ "Umami Cafe". uspto.gov. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013.
  17. ^ "Umami". uspto.gov. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013.

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