7th Street Burger, an NYC-based chain, opens its first Philly location
The viral, NYC-based burger chain opens the first of its three planned Philly locations in Fishtown.
You’d be forgiven if you walked into any of 7th Street Burger’s and think that the burger chain has been around forever. Its spare, almost bare-bones menu of smash burgers and fries is more classic than innovative, but perhaps its austerity is part of what is fueling its growth.
The chain is growing at a breakneck pace. The New York-based chain opened its 35th location in Fishtown (1215 Frankford Ave.) earlier this week. It has two more Philly locations that are slated to open by the end of this year, in University City and in Center City.
On Wednesday at 4 p.m., squarely between regular lunch and dinner hours, it was packed with people of seemingly every demographic, waiting in line for burgers.
It was first opened on its namesake East 7th Street in New York’s East Village in May 2021 by entrepreneurs Kevin Rezvani and Paras Jain who “maxed out” their credit cards in order to do so. The burger joint took off. They quickly opened another location in Greenwich Village within a year. Venture capital firm Left Lane Capital invested in 7th Street Burger in 2023, and since then, the brand has been on an opening spree up and down the East Coast.
Philly’s first location took nearly a year to open, from when the chain first took possession of the previously empty space in October.
All 7th Street Burger locations serve the same menu (at the same prices) consisting of a cheeseburger ($6.50), double cheeseburger ($9.50), and crispy fries ($4.50). Cheeseburgers and double cheeseburgers can be made vegetarian with Impossible Meat for an additional $1.50 and $2, respectively. Only Coca-Cola, Sprite, and water are available as beverages. All burgers are served on Martin’s potato rolls with American cheese, grilled onions, a mayonnaise-based house sauce that manager Frank Perez declined to give any other ingredients of, and pickles. There is a secret menu of Cajun fries and loaded fries that isn’t posted at any of their restaurants, but is rather written with a Sharpie on a takeout box at the register. Loaded fries are topped with the same ingredients as the burgers, with options to make them spicy (with a ghost pepper sauce and jalapeños).
Hours will likely change, as 7th Street Burger learns the Philly market’s demands and that of their locations’ surrounding neighborhoods. “For late night, we’ll probably extend Friday and Saturday to be closer to our New York shops,” said Perez. In New York, the locations are open until 3 a.m.
Since opening, Philly’s 7th Street Burger has sold hundreds of burgers (Perez declined to state how many hundreds) but did note that they have sold far less Impossible Meat burgers here than in any other markets.
7th Street Burger is at 1215 Frankford Ave. 877-428-2693, 7thstreetburger.com. Hours: 11 a.m. to 12 a.m. every day. Hours may change depending on demand.
