A new burger restaurant that specializes in exotic and organic burgers is expected to open in San Luis Obispo this summer.
Burger Village is currently based in New York, but a Paso Robles man has entered into a franchise deal that will bring the restaurant to San Luis Obispo and four other locations in California.
Franchise owner Ashish Verma says they expect to break ground next week at 698 Higuera St., the former Natural Café location, and be open for business by July.
“There’s a big organic market on the Central Coast,” Verma says of why he chose to bring the restaurant, which would source produce and other food from local farmers, to San Luis Obispo. “SLO is a perfect crowd.”
Verma says the food is very healthy. “It’s all organic and we have seen a lot of different burger concepts but there is nothing like it… No one serves exotic and organic,” he says.
The exotic menu items he’s referring to include beef, bison, elk, turkey, boar, lamb and even ostrich burgers, which he says cannot be held with just one hand.
There will also be more than a dozen vegan items along with salads, sandwiches, organic milkshakes, wine, 30 beers on tap and six organic sodas.
Burger prices in New York range from $10.50 for beef to $16.40 for ostrich. Most toppings are extra. Ashish says he hope to keep prices in San Luis Obispo the same.
An estimated 40 to 50 people will be hired to work at the new location.
The eco-friendly company was created by three Long Island brothers, who say their products are organic, all natural, antibiotics and hormone free and include vegan and gluten- and peanut-free choices.
Ashish is familiar with the restaurant industry on the Central Coast, owning the new El Polo Loco location in San Luis Obispo, along with ones in Paso Robles and Santa Paula.
He says the plan to open other Burger Village locations in San Jose, Dublin, Palo Alto and possibly San Francisco.
The San Luis Obispo Burger Village location will be a full-service restaurant and the first for the company outside of New York.
