Houston rapper and entrepreneur Bun B is taking his burger business to another major Houston thoroughfare, opening a fourth Trill Burgers location as the brand continues its expansion from a pandemic-era pop-up into a growing restaurant operation.
Burgers Are Big Business
The new 3,100-square-foot restaurant at 7616 Westheimer Road opened Sept. 25, offering seating for 70 customers and a wraparound drive-thru, according to local media reports. It is the first Trill Burgers location to offer late-night service, with drive-thru hours scheduled to extend until 3 a.m. Fridays through Sundays beginning in October.
“Every time we open a new location of Trill Burgers, it’s such an incredible feeling for our entire team,” Bun B said in a statement cited by Click2Houston. “We are so grateful to the city of Houston for embracing Trill Burgers the way that it has.”
The Westheimer opening adds to a restaurant brand that began with pop-ups in Houston in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic before opening its first permanent storefront in the city’s Montrose neighborhood on June 7, 2023. Trill Burgers says the original location was formerly home to a James Coney Island restaurant.
The company was co-founded by Bun B, whose given name is Bernard Freeman, along with restaurateur Andy Nguyen, marketing executive Nick Scurfield and chefs Mike Pham and Fernando Valladares. Bun B serves as chief executive officer and chief burger officer, according to the company.
The brand’s signature offering is its smash burger, built with two all-beef patties, caramelized onions, pickles and Trill Sauce on a potato roll. Its menu also includes plant-based burgers, seasoned fries and lemonade.
Trill Burgers has since expanded beyond its original Houston storefront. It operates locations in Spring and Missouri City, Texas, while also serving customers at Houston events. The brand has maintained a presence at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, where it won a 2023 Gold Buckle Foodie Award for Best Classic Fair Food. The company says it served more than 41,000 burgers during the 20-day 2023 rodeo.
In August, Trill Burgers also began serving at Rice University’s Memorial Center for the 2026-27 academic year. The partnership has particular significance for Bun B, who was a distinguished visiting lecturer at Rice in 2011, 2013 and 2015 and co-taught a course on religion and hip-hop culture.
The restaurant business represents an extension of Bun B’s entrepreneurial interests beyond music. In 2013, he and Premium Pete, a podcaster and food entrepreneur, launched You Gotta Eat This, a food website featuring restaurant reviews, recipes, food recommendations and contributions from chefs, artists and food enthusiasts.
Bun B has also pursued projects connected to hip-hop culture, including a rap-themed coloring activity book created with Houston writer Shea Serrano. He has described those ventures as part of an effort to expand his work beyond recording and performing.
For Trill Burgers, that broader entrepreneurial approach has turned a food concept into a Houston-based restaurant brand. The company says its burger was named the best burger in America by “Good Morning America” in 2022 and has been served at events including Coachella, Rolling Loud, Something in the Water and Rock the Bells.
With the Westheimer location now open, the Houston native’s latest business venture is adding another storefront to the city’s restaurant landscape — this time with a drive-thru designed to serve customers into the early morning hours.
