You may have seen the PoPville post with the sign on the door, or you may have read the Eater column reporting on how mega food hall venture Wonder bought up Eat Brgz’s assets at their West End location and they’ll be bringing their kitchenless food hall concept to that area soon. But I had to reach out to Eat Brgz founder, Brandon Alexander, because he’d been such an anchor since he opened his burger joint back in August of 2019.
Brandon tells me that this separation is a bittersweet one. He has cherished his time on the Hill, telling me that his employees “are like family to me.” Together, he and his staff started at the Capitol Hill location and expanded to Chinatown and the West End. Since that location is the largest one, it was a good fit for Wonder’s food hall. The fate of the Eastern Market location, however, is unknown at this point.
Alexander also tells me that while this was a tough decision, it’s also an exciting business decision for him, as it allows him to focus his energies on graduate school and on his family. He is grateful to the Capitol Hill community and to all customers over the years. “There have been so many great memories, like feeding first responders during COVID,” he tells me. “We went looking for the postal workers; we fed emergency personnel.” It was a rewarding venture, even as the worst of the pandemic took hold.
The West End Brgz location will stay open through the end of the month to give Brgz employees a chance to transition as they look for new employment, but the Capitol Hill space had their last day on Friday, January 31. We hope that all employees are able to find work, but we especially hope Brandon is able to come back to serving the Hill with a great new concept. Brgz will be missed!