Bubbakoo’s Burritos, a Jersey shore staple restaurant, has been expanding their reach throughout the United States, bringing their unique flare to new customers across the map. With 37 active restaurants across five states, the Bubbakoo’s team is slowly but surely growing their brand.
“Expanding throughout the U.S. has always been the plan, and now we’re executing it,” says Bill Hart, Co-founder of Bubbakoo’s Burritos.
“We just awarded our 100th location and we’re still looking for more,”
Hart and business partner, Paul Altero started their journey together in 2008 in Point Pleasant, New Jersey. Their shared vision was to establish a create-your-own burrito restaurant where patrons can fully customize their meals. After opening their first location, they quickly spread through Jersey, opening several more stores down the shore and a few up north.
After much success with the New Jersey locations, Bubbakoo’s spread to New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, and California with more locations in the works. However, when COVID-19 stalled the nation, the restaurant industry was hit hard. Hart and Altero had to push back their agenda and focus on maintaining their current stores and preserving the wellbeing of their employees. All Bubbakoo’s locations remained open for curbside pickup and delivery to provide their coveted cuisine to their customers through the pandemic.
Now, as the country begins to reopen, the expansion plans have resurfaced. Since the beginning of the pandemic, Bubbakoo’s has opened five new locations in New Jersey and New York, sharing their cuisine with new customers and providing job opportunities to people in an uncertain time. Each new location offers 20 new positions to start and each follow a strict protocol to protect their staff and their customers. In addition to opening new stores, the Bubbakoo’s team has signed 36 new deals since July.
As the brand spreads to new places, the values of Bubbakoo’s Burritos remain the same: providing great meals and getting involved with the local communities surrounding store locations.
“Getting to know our local communities is just as important as sales, we want to know our customers and give back as much as we can,” says Hart.
With the new school year approaching, the Read It to Eat It Program will be returning to stores for its second year to give free meals to students in exchange for continuing education. With over 200 teachers and 44,900 eligible students, this program has grown exponentially and has received much praise from participating schools.
The Bubbakoo’s team has been working hard to ensure the safety and wellbeing of their restaurants while simultaneously making plans with new franchisees. By the end of 2020, they intend to open 20 new locations, spreading the Bubbakoo’s brand to several new states in the process and introducing new customers to the Bubbakoo’s way.