Laya Burger

Laya Burger opened its first shop in July 2002 beside the motorway interchange at Yangmei, in Taoyuan, and grew into one of the three big names of Taiwanese breakfast, alongside Mei & Mei and My Warm Day. These are the Western-style breakfast shops found on almost every Taiwanese street, open from dawn and selling burgers, thick toast, egg crêpes and milk tea to people on their way to work or school. By 2018 there were around five hundred Laya franchises.

For years the brand was known for its fiery red shop signs. In 2015 it changed its logo and introduced an “American kitchen” style of shop, with seating for brunch and an all-day menu of pasta, risotto and breakfast plates. It is now part of the Sun Spark group, and it runs frequent tie-ins with other brands, from KitKat to Nutella.

The menu is huge and very Taiwanese. Besides ordinary burgers there are rice burgers, with buns of pressed, griddled rice in the Asian fast-food tradition; brioche toast; bagels; and dan bing, the rolled egg crêpe, which Laya is especially known for in a whole-wheat version with pork floss and mashed taro. In September 2026 it added a range of seven sourdough burgers, made with a natural levain and fermented for eighteen hours, its sourness deliberately softened to suit ham and egg.

Several hundred franchised breakfast shops across Taiwan.

• Tastien (China, since 2012). China’s fast-growing “Chinese burger” chain, with hand-rolled buns baked to order and fillings from Chinese cooking. Also built on chicken, beef and heat.
• Lucky Pierrot (Japan, since 1987). Hakodate’s beloved local burger chain, with circus-themed shops and a sweet-and-spicy Chinese Chicken Burger. Also built on chicken, beef and heat.
• Wat-a-Burger (India, since 2016). “India ka Burger”: aloo tikki, paneer and tandoori makhani burgers from Noida. Also built on chicken and beef.
• Q Burger (Taiwan, since 2013). Taiwan’s fast-growing breakfast chain, where burgers are what you eat at seven in the morning. Also built on chicken and beef.