Retro ‘Steakburger’ Chain Freddy’s Is Headed to the Seattle Area - Eater Seattle
"Freddy’s is a fast-casual chain that was founded in Kansas in 2002 and now has over 400 locations across the U.S., primarily in the South and Midwest. Its presence on the West Coast and in the Pacific Northwest is pretty minimal: There are six Freddy’s in California and eight in Idaho, but none in either Oregon or Washington. That is set to change. Last week the chain announced that it had reached an agreement with a company called Puget Sound Bites, Inc., run by Imrit Chattrath and Jasdeep Singh, to bring 10 Freddy’s locations to the Seattle area. A spokesperson said that the franchisees “have their eyes on Puyallup, Marysville, and Everett for the first several locations — December of 2025 being when they hope to open the first, with the rest rolling out consecutively from there.” Diners can expect a deliberately retro vibe not unlike Seattle’s homegrown burger brand Dick’s. Freddy’s menu features custard rather than ice cream and the brand’s font and design choices recall 1950s-style Americana. The face and namesake of the chain is Frederick “Freddy” Simon, a World War II veteran whose sons founded Freddy’s and named it in his honor. Simon died in 2020 and the chain was sold to the private equity firm Thompson Street Capital Partners six months later, so this is a business whose homespun origin story is pretty firmly in the rearview mirror. Its steakburgers haven’t changed, though, and Seattleites might wonder — what’s a steakburger? According to the blog Sandwich Tribunal, the word traditionally denoted a burger made from ground-up steak, a leaner cut of beef than what is used in hamburgers. The most famous steakburger chain is Steak ‘n Shake, whose founder, Sandwich Tribunal writes, “was said to roll a barrel of steaks–T-bone, sirloin, and round–into the dining area and grind it in full view of his customers, so they’d know that his ‘steakburgers’ were made from actual steak.” On the Freddy’s website, the chain brags that its burgers are made with “100 percent lean ground beef.” The patties are also very thin (customers typically order doubles), so these are basically smash burgers. Steak ‘n Shake tried to enter the Seattle market several years ago and landed with a thud, so whenever it opens, Freddy’s will have the steakburger lane all to itself." - Harry Cheadle
