{"id":763088,"date":"2026-04-30T06:17:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T06:17:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/763088\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T06:17:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T06:17:18","slug":"kumas-corner-chicagos-heavy-metal-burger-joint-to-explore-franchising-across-u-s-and-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/763088\/","title":{"rendered":"Kuma’s Corner, Chicago’s heavy-metal burger joint, to explore franchising across U.S. and world"},"content":{"rendered":"

The blaring heavy-metal music and bold burger combinations at Kuma\u2019s Corner once attracted a niche group of visitors. <\/p>\n

Now, the restaurant plans to franchise and expand across the U.S. and world.<\/p>\n

The burger bar currently has two locations in Illinois \u2014 the original joint in Avondale and another in Schaumburg \u2014 and a third in Indianapolis. Founder Ron Cain said he hopes to open more locations in the Midwest, but is also entertaining offers to open internationally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like we have the best burger on the planet,\u201d founder Ron Cain told the Sun-Times. \u201cWe bring people together. People of all types are acceptable, so I definitely feel like it\u2019s a concept that would do well in multiple markets.\u201d<\/p>\n

In February, food star and critic Guy Fieri named Kuma\u2019s Corner a top five restaurant in the U.S.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"12-22_hale_bruno02_8995.JPG\"<\/p>\n

A Chicago Kuma Burger with egg is pictured in 2008 at Kuma\u2019s Corner\u2019s Avondale location at 2900 W. Belmont.<\/p>\n

Keith Hale\/Sun-Times file<\/p>\n

Kuma\u2019s menu includes a variety of burgers, each named after a different heavy-metal artist. Since opening in 2005, the restaurant has offered unique food combinations, such as jalapeno bacon jam to Belgian waffle strips.<\/p>\n

Cain said new storefronts will maintain the heavy-metal Kuma\u2019s aesthetic, but some changes will likely be made depending on the location. The menus may change slightly based on demand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe may tweak the menu,\u201d Cain said. \u201cI would say probably 80% of the menu will be Kuma\u2019s, the identical menu that we have in Chicago. But we\u2019re open to different regions and trying different products.\u201d<\/p>\n

The infamous loud music will continue to blast at the original location, but newer locations may lower their speakers a bit.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to be mindful of local passion when it comes to both food and music,\u201d Cain said. \u201cWe\u2019re not totally going to just shove metal down people\u2019s throats. That\u2019s why we\u2019ll play it maybe a little bit more softly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kuma\u2019s is not only focused on accommodating Midwesterners. The new franchise has had substantive conversations with partners in India who want to bring the burger brand to big cities like Bangalore and Mumbai.<\/p>\n

Catering to India\u2019s food trends, Kuma\u2019s may replace beef with chicken and lamb. Cain said India holds a large market of Gen Zers and millennials who want eclectic food options.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"kumas.jpg\"<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they eat out, they like experiential type restaurants, which obviously I believe Kuma\u2019s is,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

Kuma\u2019s also has a collaboration lined up with Hamerica\u2019s, a popular burger spot across Italy, for the month of June.<\/p>\n

Self-starters who want to open their own Kuma\u2019s can go to the company\u2019s website and request a franchise information brochure.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first franchisee we want to make sure is a strong candidate that has hospitality experience and understands the culture and the vibe and is going to carry the standard of Kuma\u2019s, so that we maintain the integrity of our food and our customer experience,\u201d Cain said.<\/p>\n

No official plans are in place yet for when or where the next Kuma\u2019s will open.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is an opportunity for operators who want more than \u2018another location,\u2019\u201d Kuma\u2019s Corner wrote on its website. \u201cThis is about building a destination restaurant.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The blaring heavy-metal music and bold burger combinations at Kuma\u2019s Corner once attracted a niche group of visitors.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":763089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-763088","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116492203741440795","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=763088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/763088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/763089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=763088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=763088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=763088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}