Little Big Burger

Micah Camden and Katie Poppe opened the first Little Big Burger in Portland’s Pearl District in 2010. The idea was a very short menu done carefully: a quarter-pound burger of local beef on a brioche bun, a chicken burger, a vegan burger, shoestring fries tossed in white truffle oil, and root beer floats. It caught on fast in Portland and became a local favourite.

In 2015 the founders sold the chain to Chanticleer Holdings, which took it to California, North Carolina, Texas and Washington; by 2019 there were about a dozen branches around Portland alone. The years since have been rougher: workers tried to unionise in 2019, the Department of Labor found in 2024 that fourteen branches had withheld tips and ordered a payout, and the parent company filed for bankruptcy that summer. Today the chain is back to a handful of Oregon shops.

The cheese choice is very Oregonian: cheddar, pepper jack and Swiss from the Tillamook creamery, plus blue and chèvre. The burgers are cooked to medium unless you ask otherwise, there is local beer in cans, and the “secret menu” is mostly extra cheese, bacon and beer floats. Calories are printed on the menu.

A handful of restaurants in Portland and elsewhere in Oregon.

• Smashburger (United States, since 2007). A whole chain built on pressing a ball of beef flat on a hot griddle. Also built on beef and cheese.
• Wahlburgers (United States, since 2011). The burger bar run by Mark and Donnie Wahlberg’s chef brother, famous from its own TV show. Also built on beef and cheese.
• Burger King (United States, since 1953). Flame-grilled since the 1950s, and still defined by one burger. Also built on beef and cheese.
• A&W Restaurants (United States, since 1919). America’s oldest drive-in chain, and the burger that lost to bad maths. Also built on beef and cheese.