Burgeranch

Burgeranch is an Israeli fast-food chain operated by Orgad H.S.N. Ltd. and described in 2024 as wholly owned by Orgad Holdings.[4] The company describes about 60 restaurants nationwide and a delivery center serving areas from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat.[5]

Burgeranch began with two Tel Aviv branches in the 1970s. Published accounts differ on whether the chain was founded in 1972 or 1973: the company and some reports give 1972, while owner Yuval Orgad and other reports give 1973.[4][6] Founder Berry Skop and his partner Ron Lapid recalled that Israeli customers initially asked what else there was to eat when offered a hamburger. They said the business grew to about 60 branches and roughly $50 million in annual sales by the time Skop left.[7]

Paz bought Burgeranch from its founders and Ta’am Yisrael in September 1997 at a reported valuation of $8 million. Paz planned to combine the restaurants with its Yellow convenience stores at fuel stations.[8] In 2001 the chain had 90 branches and reported sales of NIS 210 million, up from NIS 200 million the previous year after five years of declining sales. Its chief executive said security-related damage at ten branches had cost about 5% of expected annual sales; he planned 14 new branches for 2002, some alongside Yellow stores.[9]

By 2003, Burgeranch had sales of about NIS 150 million and a reported loss of about NIS 8 million, while Paz was closing most of its restaurants at fuel stations.[8] Brothers Eli and Yuval Orgad entered the hamburger business that year by buying the financially troubled Burger King chain for NIS 30 million. In 2008 they acquired Burgeranch from a receiver, after the chain entered receivership and a court approved a plan to restart 24 company-owned branches and assist ten franchised branches while a buyer was sought. The chain had 50 company-owned branches; reported debts included NIS 15 million to Paz and NIS 1.3 million to supplier Neto.[3][10]

The Orgad brothers’ purchase followed a sale process in which a Georgian businessperson’s group initially offered NIS 17 million and the Orgads raised their bid to NIS 25 million. The court approved the sale, which subsequently received antitrust approval after the regulator had previously opposed a merger between the chains.[11] Reports differ on the final purchase price: one account gives NIS 24 million, while others report NIS 25 million.[3][12]

In May 2010 the owners opted to convert Burger King’s Israeli restaurants to Burgeranch, ending the local franchise operation and avoiding further royalty payments to the international company. At the time, reports counted 55 Burger King restaurants and either 52 Burgeranch branches or nearly 50, depending on the account.[13][2] The announced conversion would bring the combined chain to 107 restaurants; the company planned to spend NIS 6 million on renovations and rebranding, beginning with the Allenby Street branch in Tel Aviv. Planned changes included plasma screens and children’s play areas. The owners said consumer tests favored the Israeli-style “Burger Ranch Bull” and described the brand as a source of “large bites of nostalgia” for many Israelis.[2]

The chain’s reported size continued to change. In a 2011 interview, Orgad said it had 102 branches and expected to end the year with 110; another report that year described 110 restaurants across Israel. Orgad also outlined a five-year plan to reach 150 restaurants and estimated the chain’s market share relative to McDonald’s at 30%–35%, depending on how market share was defined. These were figures and plans reported at the time, not current totals.[3][14]

Burgeranch pursued new formats and locations as it rebuilt under Orgad ownership. In 2011 it won the exclusive bid to operate a hamburger restaurant at Ben-Gurion Airport, replacing McDonald’s. Sources familiar with the bid estimated that the Orgad brothers offered the Israel Airports Authority about NIS 8 million annually; Eli Orgad called the location strategically important and said the company wanted arriving tourists to encounter a local hamburger brand.[3]

The chain later developed Ranch Café, a café concept within its restaurants. Nestlé was to supply Nescafé Milano coffee and equipment, and its subsidiary Bonjour was to provide pastries. The plan called for cafés in 30 locations within six months, with a projected total cost of NIS 15 million, or NIS 500,000 per location. The first opened at Herzliya’s Seven Star Mall, and another was planned for Ben-Gurion Airport; customers ordering a Burgeranch meal were to receive lower café prices.[15]

Burgeranch began transferring some branches to franchisees in 2013. Yuval Orgad said weak growth in the fast-food market and the opening of new malls—which intensified competition for existing businesses—had prompted the strategy. He said franchisees could operate restaurants while the company concentrated on marketing and branding. One branch opened in Shefa-Amr through a local franchisee; Orgad identified Arab and ultra-Orthodox communities as potential areas for growth and pointed to the chain’s high Badatz Beit Yosef kosher certification.[16]

The company’s later growth has been described in terms of both geographic reach and a comparatively smaller branch network than the 2011 plans anticipated. In January 2024, a report described Burgeranch as wholly owned by Orgad Holdings, with about 60 branches from Kiryat Shmona to Eilat, and said the chain intended to establish a presence in every Israeli city. That month it opened its first branch in Harish, at the MORE complex, operating under strict kosher certification.[4] The company says it operates a delivery center serving areas from Kiryat Shmona in the north to Eilat in the south, and claims it is the only hamburger chain in Israel with such a center.[5]

Burgeranch’s menu and promotions have included products presented as familiar to Israeli customers and adaptations that draw on local food culture. The company names the Sparad, Ranch, Chicken Grill, combination meals, and Chocopie among its recognized dishes, and says it continues to develop new products.[5] In 2011, Yuval Orgad described additions including potato wedges imported from abroad, natural schnitzel, and the “Spanish Ranch.” He said the wedges could not be produced in Israel because the necessary technology was unavailable there, and characterized the chain as a strong Israeli brand.[14]

The chain also built recurring Independence Day promotions around local flavors. A 2019 account traced the annual specials to a 2017 Shoko Pie made with HaShachar Ha’ole and a 2018 “Ranch in pita.” In 2019 Burgeranch introduced “Lafa Ranch,” combining its Ranch burger with laffa, tahini, chopped tomato and cucumber salad, fries, and optional amba.[17]

Passover menus have required changes to accommodate kosher certification. In 2010, the adult-meal patty was reduced from 100 grams to 50 grams while the meal price remained unchanged; the children’s patty stayed the same size, although the children’s meal price rose. Burgeranch said the ingredients had to fit a uniformly sized Passover-certified bun and that the adult meal’s price reflected the special bun and the cost of making the restaurants kosher for Passover.[18]

Burgeranch’s workforce and labor relations received attention during periods of financial strain and organizational change. A 2008 report said the chain had about 1,500 employees in 70 branches and that 80% of its employees were younger than 18. It reported that many workers had not received their July wages by the expected date; Burgeranch acknowledged that it had not transferred some branch employees’ wages and said it was working to do so.[19]

In 2013, hundreds of Burgeranch workers organized, and the owners signed what was described as the first collective agreement at an Israeli fast-food chain. The report said the owners agreed to negotiate without a prolonged campaign against the union. Yuval Orgad described a fully subsidized annual trip to Poland for at least five employees as an important educational component of the agreement.[20]

In a 2011 interview, Orgad said the company was introducing operating procedures and standards after acquiring Burgeranch. The account reflects his description of the management changes and the chain’s products.[14]

Burgeranch’s history reflects the development of a domestic hamburger brand alongside the entry and expansion of international fast-food chains in Israel. It had nearly 50 restaurants by the time McDonald’s entered the market in 1993 and was then described as the country’s largest restaurant chain.[1] Its later consolidation with Burger King’s Israeli outlets placed the local name on a combined network of more than 100 restaurants, while the company’s airport bid explicitly emphasized presenting an Israeli hamburger brand to incoming tourists.[2][3]

The chain has also used menu choices and promotions to express a local identity, from Passover adaptations to Independence Day dishes combining burgers with pita, laffa, tahini, salad, or amba.[17][18] Its corporate history includes expansion, losses, receivership, and new ownership.[8][10] It later adopted franchising and resumed geographic expansion, while reported branch totals continued to vary.[3][16] A January 2024 report put the network at about 60 branches.[4]

Sources give either 1972 or 1973 for Burgeranch’s founding year.[4][6] They also report either NIS 24 million or NIS 25 million for the Orgad brothers’ 2008 acquisition.[3][12] The accounts do not reconcile these differences. In a retrospective interview, founders Skop and Lapid also characterized the period under Paz as a negative turning point; that assessment is attributed to the founders rather than presented as an independently established conclusion.[7]

Ynet reported that Burgeranch had been added to a UN database of businesses linked to settlements. The same report said Israel condemned the database as a political tool and a distorted mechanism targeting companies it said had committed no wrongdoing. The report did not provide Burgeranch-specific details about the basis for its inclusion.[21]