The on-again, off-again meatless hamburger restaurant Burgerlords is under new ownership. Ben Richter and Alex Claster, co-owners of the popular breakfast burrito chain Wake & Late, recently bought a majority stake in the restaurant founded by brothers Frederick and Max Guerrero in 2015; Max stepped away from the business in 2020. “We think Fred built such an energetic and cool brand,” says Richter, the founder of Wake & Late. “We want to build on that heritage, whereas the product is what’s going to see a lot of evolution.”

After managing the pair of Burgerlords restaurants in Chinatown and Highland Park solo since his brother’s departure, all while juggling the beloved restaurant Oinkster in Eagle Rock after his father retired in 2023, Guerrero was burned out and ready for some space. “Burgerlords could have done more but something in me felt like, ‘You don’t have to [continue], you could do something else.’ This doesn’t have to be my legacy,” says Guerrero. “I feel like I have been going nonstop.”

While the new owners plan to tap Guerrero’s institutional knowledge and marketing know-how moving forward, Burgerlords’ day-to-day operations, including menu updates and employee policies, lie squarely with Richter and Claster. The Burgerlords venture is “totally separate” from Wake & Late under a newly formed company, says Richter. Burgerlords’ longtime employees are being retained.

Burgerlords

Burgerlords

The most significant changes to the restaurant are its menu and pricing. Starting Monday, June 10, Burgerlords’ slate of offerings was significantly simplified. While the original menu offered 10 or so burger options, including classic and vegan cheeseburgers, an Oklahoma smash burger, and a burger layered with chips in collaboration with Brain Dead Studios, the revamped menu is much tighter. “It’s pretty much just cheeseburgers and fries, and that’s it,” says Richter. “You can either order a double-smash or our veggie patty. It’s the kind of burgers that we make at home for ourselves and our families.”

Taking a page from the Wake & Late playbook, Richter is aiming to create a fast, high-end smash burger experience using well-sourced organic ingredients that he sees lacking in the Los Angeles burger market. “Generally, [smash burger operators] are either fast or really good, but not both,” says Richter. “A lot of people just do it the same where it’s slightly different meat with a slightly different sauce with the same Martin’s potato bun or a Hawaiian roll or a Puritan bun.”

Every element of the updated Burgerlords burger will be made in-house, including its potato milk buns, Thousand Island dressing, and American cheese. The beef will be sourced from “100-percent regenerative grass-fed cows from California” and ground in-house, says Richter. Lettuce and tomatoes are no longer available, but diners can still add raw or grilled onions to their burgers. The all-new meatless patty is made from a mix of vegetables, cashews, and salt with a crisp-golden panko crust. French fries are prepared in beef tallow or a plant-based alternative. While the original menu included vegan and gluten-free options, the new offerings stop at vegetarian. A more robust menu may be offered in the future, but Richter is focused on keeping it succinct and classic for the time being.

The combination of cheeseburger (vegetarian or classic) and fries is priced at $25, which includes staff gratuity. “It’s a higher-end product, so pricing is going to change,” says Richter. “We think that we’re still giving great value given the product changes.” Traditional and dairy-free milkshakes and sodas are available to accompany meals. Richter estimates that in four to six months Burgerlords will be making its own sodas and ice creams in-house.

Looking toward the future, Richter plans to make Burgerlords’ various products, including its buns, Thousand Island dressing, American cheese, fries, and veggie burger patties, available for wholesale to restaurants and customers nationwide within three months. And in the next year or so, Burgerlords will expand to more LA neighborhoods, potentially in Westwood, Pasadena, West Hollywood, or Downtown.

“We’ve always loved the Burgerlords brand,” says Richter. “We loved a lot of the things that they were doing, but we always had ideas of where they could go and what we thought was missing in the market.” Time will tell if the team’s winning formula for breakfast burritos applies to smash burgers and fries, too.