History
The chain's history reaches back to 1966,[5] when 20-year old Heikki Salmela opened a street food kiosk called Kievarin grilli in Naantali. He later opened the first Hesburger in the Hansakortteli shopping centre in 1980 on Kristiinankatu in Turku, which became the first element of the first fast food restaurant chain in Finland. In the 1980s the chain grew fast. Salmela sold the chain and several hotels in 1988 for almost 200 million Finnish markka. Three years later, during the early 1990s recession, he bought it back for 25 million markka.
Salmela has said in an interview that in the beginning, the name of the street his kiosk was located at sufficed for a name for the kiosk. After Salmela had founded his restaurant chain company, it needed a proper name. The name "Hesburger" was suggested, but Salmela thought the name didn't have "an American feel" to it. So he asked an advertisement bureau to come up with a name for his company. The advertisement bureau thought about suitable names for a couple of weeks, and in the end presented Salmela with the name they came up with, along with a bill of 100 thousand markka: "Hesburger".[4]
With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 cities and towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain Carrols in 2002. The purchase of Carrols gave Hesburger some previously nonexistent leverage on the fast food market of Helsinki. Hesburger has kept rival chain McDonald's out of Turku efficiently: in 2014, there were 21 Hesburgers but only two McDonald's locations in the city. Hesburger has also expanded to international markets, opening outlets in the Baltic states and in Hamburg, Germany,[6] as well as a single location in Alanya, Turkey (opened in 2014,[7] closed unknown date). There was a Hesburger in Damascus, Syria for a short period between 2004 and 2006, but it was closed as unprofitable.[8] Further expansion into the Middle East has been discussed by the company.[9]
In 2018, Hesburger asked an American martial artist and actor Chuck Norris to promote the burger chain's then-new mobile app.[10] The commercial was filmed at the then-Hesburger restaurant in Munkkiniemi, which was demolished in late 2025.[11] When asked in an interview what a burger with the Chuck Norris name would be like, Norris replied that it would be topped with mushrooms and jalapenos.[12]
Hesburger expanded to Poland by opening a delivery-only restaurant in Warsaw in 2024.[13]
In summer of 2024, Hesburger expanded to Romania by opening its first restaurant in Râmnicu Vâlcea.[14]
In July 2025, Hesburger announced that it will discontinue the sale of its children’s meal (Lastenateria) in all operating countries beginning in spring 2026. The decision was attributed to the chain’s efforts to promote corporate responsibility, evolving consumer expectations, and adherence to new marketing guidelines regarding advertising targeted at children.[15]
Russia
The first attempts to enter the Russian market were made at the end of the 80's. In the summer of 1988 through the joint Soviet-Finnish enterprise in St. Petersburg (and later in Vyborg and Petrozavodsk) street tents opened under the Liha Polar brand made in the Hesburger color scheme. In the menu was hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and other dishes are typical for Hesburger.[16][17][18][19] In the late 1990s/early 2000s restaurants ceased to exist for unknown reasons.[16][20][21]
