BOISE, IDAHO — Some of you may remember almost two years ago when we featured the growing restaurant chain Good Burger for our Made in Idaho segment.
"I had the concept in the year 2013 with an idea to create something, a company that can have the basis of just doing good and hence the name Good in Good Burger. And it became a reality in 2017 when I opened my first location in the Boise Towne Square Mall," said Good Burger owner and CEO Nick Jones.
As of December of 2018 during our first interview, Good Burger had two locations in the Treasure Valley. Today, they have nine total with five in Idaho and four in Utah. They've also made some changes to their already high-quality meat.
"Our burgers are Kobe, or Wagyu I guess is more of the correct terminology, so super high quality meat!" exclaimed Jones.
And they've ever upgraded their bread game with some help from Franz Bakery in Nampa.
"We used to have a bit of a beefy bun, but today we have our own buns that are made specifically for us, like they're just our buns. And so, we've started to up the game from where we had a fantastic burger to where we have an even better one today," exclaimed Jones.
But like almost all businesses, the pandemic has forced some changes with Good Burger, including take-out only for several weeks and even closing a store in the Boise Mall. It also has postponed another location's opening in Idaho.
"We have to make sure that we take care of our existing stores and our existing team members before we can go crazy with expanding. And so I don't know how long that's gonna last, I mean that pause could last six months, it could last two or three years," said Jones.
Nick and others involved with the Good Burger franchise have taken trips to South American countries to help the hungry in areas that need it. During the pandemic, they're still wanting to help, but are focusing on the Treasure Valley.
"We've been giving away free meals to people at our downtown location. I just got a food truck that I'm gonna park and give out food to people and we've been giving out food every Sunday. The international effort is now on pause but we focus now, we focus on the community," said Jones.
No matter how hard these times get, Nick thinks Good Burger and so many other local businesses will be able to bounce back because of something they all have in common...they were made in Idaho.
"I do believe Idaho has an edge above anybody else because we have a large community factor where we tend to care more about people than other states do which is encouraging and it's nice to see," said Jones.
