A fast-casual burger chain built entirely around halal certification is setting up shop inside San Jose’s Eastridge Center, becoming the only hamburger vendor in the mall’s food court. iniBurger plans to open its sixth restaurant in late August, with a grand opening scheduled for early September at 2200 Eastridge Loop.
Founders Abdul Popal and Leeza Popal announced that iniBurger is joining the Eastridge Center food court, as reported by the East Bay Times. The couple, both tech industry veterans who moved to the United States from Afghanistan as children, launched iniBurger in Pleasanton in 2020. Every hamburger the chain serves is 100% halal-certified, and so are its chicken sandwiches, wings, and strips, per the same report.
Customers “shouldn’t have to give up quality, creativity or ambiance just because you keep hala,” Leeza Popal said, according to the East Bay Times. The brand leans into its multicultural roots even in its menu vocabulary: iniBurger uses the term b’igi for its full-size burgers and m’ini for smaller ones, drawing on the word ini, which means “this” in Farsi, Indonesian, and Malay.
What’s Actually on the Menu
The San Jose location will serve both classic burgers and smash burgers made with USDA Choice Angus beef, with the Americano and the smash burger ranking as the chain’s two best-selling items. Chicken options are cage-free, all-natural, hormone-free and antibiotic-free, the East Bay Times reports. Sides include meal-size salads, crinkle-cut fries, sweet potato fries, onion rings, macaroni and cheese bites, and milkshakes, plus a dozen in-house-made sauce options…