Much-hyped, Inglewood-born Storm Burger to open location in Long Beach

Storm Burger Long Beach is coming to Cherry and South, drive-thru lovers.

The much-hyped, Inglewood-born, Black-owned chain—which opened its first location in an abandoned Church’s drive-thru on La Brea—is looking to repeat its strategy. It will be opening its first Long Beach location inside a—you guessed it—former Church’s drive-thru. The space at 5801 Cherry Ave. saw Church’s shutter in December of 2024, the very month Storm Burger opened its doors in Inglewood.

What is Storm Burger?

Hooters franchisee Mike Storm and Inglewood chef Myron Moore (the space’s Director of Operations) opened the first Storm Burger in December 2024 at 500 N. La Brea Ave. in Inglewood. With it, their chuck, brisket, and steak trim mixture for patties quickly blew up. So did their fries and onion rings, which Eater LA editor Mona Holmes called “some of the best in the region.”

The brand is quickly expanding: Long Beach marks its second lease while it awaits a third lease in Compton. Their endeavors reflect the desire of regionally local brands to move beyond, well, just the local.

Storm Burger Long Beach is an extension of the brand’s larger endgame.

It’s a smart move—and one that’s catching on.

Restaurant chains looking to grow are zeroing in on underused drive-thrus and second-gen spaces left behind by the bigger players—those consolidating, upsizing, or ditching SoCal altogether. These sites are often goldmines: the challenging development work in old spaces is already done—we’re talking grease traps, gas lines, hoods…—which gives smaller brands a real shot at competing, at least on the local level, with the national giants.

Even more, chains like Jack in the Box, Church’s, and Arby’s have been stepping back from the market, closing multiple locations and leaving behind a lot of opportunity. Retail tenants have vacated 2.7M more square feet than they’ve leased over the past year, according to CoStar. And Storm Burger wants to cash in on that.

Storm Burger and its Long Beach location also reflects a more local trend…

And that is smaller, locally celebrated brands moving into Long Beach. While the closure of North Hollywood-based Republic of Pie in Belmont Shore can be quietly lamented, plenty of other major food brands are opening in Long Beach.

There’s Sonoratown, which has not only reinvigorated a Downtown lunch crowd but also brings to the city some of its best tacos. There’s Goodies in the Shore. And Holey Grail in the same neighborhood. Then there’s Northern Cafe from L.A. And Breakfast Republic from San Diego.

Investment in our city should always be celebrated, though we’d be remiss not to note that we’re happy to see Inglewood particularly move into Long Beach.

Storm Burger will be located at 5801 Cherry Ave.