The New York smash burger chain that counts Bad Bunny among its fans is doubling down on Massachusetts, with plans to open two more locations in Cambridge's Harvard Square and in Saugus before early 2027. It's a rapid follow-up to a Boston debut that's barely six months old, and it puts the chain on a collision course with one of Harvard Square's most storied burger institutions.
7th Street Burger will open at 37 Brattle St. in Harvard Square in early 2027, with a second new location at 880 Broadway in Saugus targeted for October, according to MassLive. Both spots will serve the chain's signature single and double cheeseburgers, fries, and loaded fries made to order. The Harvard Square storefront takes over a retail space previously occupied by Concepts, a high-end streetwear and sneaker boutique, according to The Cuff, on a high-foot-traffic corridor near Harvard Yard.
The Saugus site sits inside a newly redeveloped, 34,246-square-foot retail center along the Route 1 Northbound corridor that previously housed discount outlet BinStar, per a commercial listing on LoopNet. These two additions will bring 7th Street Burger's Massachusetts count to four, following its first Boston-area store on Newbury Street in March 2026 and a South Boston location that opened in April.
A Bootstrapped Shop Turned Multi-State Chain
7th Street Burger began as a single 280-square-foot storefront in New York City's East Village, founded in June 2021 by college friends Kevin Rezvani and Paras Jain, who financed the original shop by maxing out personal credit cards, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. That early East Village spot built its reputation on late-night foot traffic before the concept caught the attention of investors. In 2023, private equity firm Left Lane Capital invested in the chain to build out corporate infrastructure and fund rapid expansion up and down the East Coast, per the same reporting.
Rezvani has described a corporate growth plan aiming to take the chain from 26 units in late 2025 to 60 locations by late 2026, and eventually to 100 corporate-owned stores by 2027, as detailed by Restaurant Business Magazine. Before starting 7th Street Burger, Rezvani had launched the North Jersey smash burger chain Diesel & Duke and worked as an Amazon delivery driver, applying logistics and assembly-line thinking to restaurant operations, according to Food Republic.
Nine Ingredients, One Simple Menu
Part of what allows the chain to move fast is a deliberately narrow menu built around just three categories — cheeseburgers, fries, and drinks — using only nine total ingredients across the entire operation, per the Inquirer's reporting. There's no chicken and no milkshakes, a stripped-down approach meant to maximize kitchen throughput. That simplicity keeps prices low even amid broader food inflation: a single smash burger on Martin's Potato Rolls runs $6.50, while a double burger costs $9.50, positioning the chain as what industry observers have called an affordable “In-N-Out of the East Coast,” undercutting larger fast-casual rivals like Five Guys.
The brand has already built a celebrity following. Bad Bunny has said he likes to grab one of 7th Street Burger's smash burgers whenever he's in New York, with a go-to order of a double smash burger topped with onion, pickles, cheese, and house-made sauce, per Sporked. Beyond Massachusetts and its New York home base, the chain's East Coast footprint now includes locations across New Jersey, Washington D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut, with recent additions in Stamford and New Haven noted by The Connecticut Scoop.
Squaring Off With a Cambridge Institution
Landing in Harvard Square puts the chain in direct competition with Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage, which has served burgers at 1246 Massachusetts Ave. since 1960, a longstanding Cambridge fixture Hoodline has previously highlighted. It's a pairing of old and new that mirrors Harvard Square's mix of legacy student haunts and modern fast-casual concepts. The Saugus expansion, meanwhile, plants 7th Street Burger among neighboring fast-casual and service tenants in a corridor built for high commercial traffic.
The Massachusetts push follows a pattern the chain has repeated across the Northeast this year. Hoodline has tracked 7th Street Burger's sneak into downtown Princeton in July and its sizzle into Hackensack in June, alongside a March debut in Philadelphia's Rittenhouse neighborhood. With Harvard Square and Saugus next in line, the once-tiny East Village burger stand continues its march toward the 100-store goal Rezvani has set for 2027.
