Wayback Burgers, formerly Jake’s, has expanded to Chicagoland with a store in the suburb of Naperville, IL. At the same time, the company has a smaller footprint in the area of its founding.
The Naperville Sun reported the store in suburban Chicago. will open later this year. The company has also expanded in Massachusetts and in the Reading area. There have been forays overseas and a franchise agreement signed in Canada.
Wayback rebranded itself from the Jake’s name, after the Delaware company was bought, with its headquarters moving to Connecticut.
Wayback got its start with a bare-bones location on Ogletown Road, just outside Newark. That location, which retains its burger joint appearance, remains popular, with many patrons referring to it by the old name.
The company has grown to more than 100 locations, but has closed some franchises in Delaware and adjacent areas in recent years. The company is also looking at the overseas market, with a recent announcement of stores coming to the oil-rich mini-state of Brunei.
The most recent closing, reported by the Cecil Whig newspaper and website, was in Elkton, MD. The site had operated on Bridge Street for a dozen years.
Wayback has kept the Jake’s formula of never-frozen hamburgers and freshly made milkshakes.
It has expanded the menu to include oddities like a nine-patty hamburger that manages to get the attention of editors. For a time, it offered shakes with insect-based proteins.
Wayback faces a crowded market for more upscale burgers, dominated in much of this region by Five Guys.
Five Guys sticks with a limited menu that was also used by the original Jake’s. Wayback owners have added burgers of the month, jumbo-sized burgers and other wrinkles.
The nine-patty jumbo burgers always seem to draw media attention when an opening announcement is made.
Another rival moving into the region is Steak ‘N Shake, which is opening locations in the Trenton, NJ area, with a couple of outposts in Baltimore-Washington. The steak name refers to burgers that are said to use steak meat. Steak ‘N Shake operates with lower price points than Jake’s and has a full restaurant operation with breakfast.
One of the new Trenton-area locations for Steak ‘N Shake replaced a Wayback.
Steak ‘N Shakes are a mainstay in its home state of Indiana. The chain has grown to more than 500 locations, with most of the stores in the Midwest and South.
