Grill'd: History, Key Facts and Reviews

2004: a marketer’s burger bar in Hawthorn

Grill’d started as one burger restaurant at 754 Glenferrie Road in Hawthorn, a Melbourne suburb, on March 2, 2004 (Wikipedia, Crumbwire). Its founder, Simon Crowe, came from marketing: he had worked for Procter & Gamble and as an international brand manager at Foster’s, which he left in September 2003. Working abroad, he had watched the burger market grow in the UK, New Zealand and the United States (Dynamic Business). He opened with two chefs and two business partners and a simple pitch: a “healthy burger” made to order.

2008-2016: from 9 restaurants to a national chain

Grill’d grew slowly at first, then spread across the east coast. In September 2008 it had nine restaurants, three of them franchised, and its first Queensland site was on the way; Crowe saw New South Wales as the step that would make it a national brand. In 2010 all its beef and lamb became grass-fed and free range, and in 2016 its chicken switched to RSPCA-approved suppliers. In 2011 it launched Local Matters: customers get a token with each order and drop it in a jar for one of three local groups, and each restaurant shares $500 among them every month. The program says it has given away more than $7 million since then (Grill’d).

2019-2024: Bali, drive-throughs and halal

Between 2019 and 2024 Grill’d opened abroad for the first time and tested new formats. It opened in Seminyak, Bali, in December 2019, the same year it added the plant-based Impossible burger. Blacktown, in Sydney’s west, became its first halal-certified restaurant in May 2023, and the first drive-through opened at Mount Ommaney, Queensland, in June 2023. A second followed at Chadstone, Victoria, in 2024, the year the chain turned 20 (Wikipedia).

2025-2026: the 175th restaurant and supermarket patties

Grill’d now has restaurants in every Australian state and territory. It opened its 175th restaurant at Barangaroo, in the Sydney CBD, on October 2, 2025, and gave away 754 burgers, a nod to the Hawthorn street number. The same year its patties went on sale in Coles supermarkets. Our guides to Grill’d in Sydney and Grill’d in Canberra list every address. In June 2026 the ACCC took the chain to court over its “Tree Day Tuesday” donation claims; the case is ongoing. On October 20, 2026, its official list counted 181 restaurants (Grill’d).

Key dates

• 2004: Simon Crowe opens the first Grill’d at 754 Glenferrie Road, Hawthorn, on March 2.
• 2008: nine restaurants in September, three of them franchised.
• 2010: all beef and lamb become grass-fed and free range.
• 2011: launch of the Local Matters community program.
• 2019: first restaurant outside Australia, in Seminyak, Bali, in December.
• 2023: first drive-through, at Mount Ommaney in Queensland.
• 2025: 175th restaurant opens at Barangaroo, Sydney, on October 2.