By Mike Hazlip—
A new Burger King restaurant opened Wednesday at 8034 Greenback Lane, following last-minute inspections and a tight timeline to open before the end of the year.
Signage announcing “we’re open” could be seen outside the location on Wednesday, along with a sign announcing the location is hiring. A manager said the restaurant saw around two-dozen vehicles come through the drive-thru during the first four hours of being open the first day.
Franchise owner Sunny Ghai opened the Burger King after spending several months remodeling. He also plans to open a Popeye’s next door, sometime in January.
The location was previously a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant, with a Burger King next door. The former Burger King closed during the pandemic for unknown reasons, but online reviews had given the location a low rating of 1.5-out-of-5 stars on Yelp.
In a phone call to The Sentinel last week, Ghai said he faced a few last-minute inspection hurdles that made him concerned he wouldn’t meet a deadline to open by year end.
Ghai said he had ordered a food shipment last week after being given the green light from a Sacramento County health inspector to stock food, but was subsequently told by a Citrus Heights building inspector that employees could not enter the building to stock the food without an occupancy permit being issued first.
“I don’t know why each one has to rely on the other,” Ghai said, expressing frustration over the weekend. “What do I tell the guy, throw away the food? It’s already on the way on a truck from Southern California.”
However, in a phone call on Tuesday, Ghai said the restaurant had passed building inspection, ahead of the county’s final health inspection, allowing him to open the restaurant on Wednesday.
Ghai owns a number of Burger King and Popeye’s locations throughout Northern California through the Livermore-based Ghai Management Services. Burger King and Popeye’s are owned by the same parent company, Restaurant Brands International, which purchased the chicken restaurant chain in 2017.
The franchise owner said he has spent more than $3 million to remodel and reopen the two Citrus Heights restaurants.
