Pizza brands and burger chains, once natural adversaries, are cozying up these days. Donatos Pizza and the Red Robin burger brand have been operating co-located concepts since 2018, while Round Table Pizza and Fatburger joined forces on co-branded units starting in October 2023.

A fast-growing alliance between a Papa Johns franchisee and Killer Burger is different, but it points to the potential synergy of pizza and burger chains.

Killer Burger, based in Portland, Oregon, recently signed a second multi-unit deal agreement with Cascade Dining, a Papa Johns franchisee with 26 stores. The deal will bring another six Killer Burger locations to Washington, Oregon and Idaho over the next five years.

The Killer Burger stores will be standalone operations, not co-located with Papa Johns locations, in contrast to the Donatos-Red Robin and Round Table-Fatburger stores.

Pizza + Burgers: How Donatos landed in Red Robin’s nest

Following the success of Cascade Dining’s first Killer Burger opening in Salem, Oregon, in April 2023 as part of its original six-unit deal, the group has extended the partnership. The agreement will bring an additional six Killer Burger locations to the South Puget Sound region, including the cities of Tacoma, Puyallup and Olympia in Washington.

“We are excited to extend our partnership with [Cascade Dining owner] Dave Edwards and his team to open six more Killer Burger units in the coming years,” said John Dikos, CEO at Killer Burger, in a press release. “Dave and his team’s dedication to operational excellence ensures that we’re providing the ultimate burger experience that we promise each and every customer, and their recommitment to our brand demonstrates the value proposition we are able to offer franchisees. As we continue to scale our concept, we remain focused on expanding into new markets and filling out whitespace in the markets we’re currently in with incredible franchisees like Dave.”

Edwards’ team has deep restaurant industry expertise, including senior leadership roles at Red Robin. In total, they will open 12 Killer Burger locations over the next five years across Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Cascade Dining also recently purchased the company-owned Gresham, Oregon, location from Killer Burger LLC earlier this month, bringing their total location count to 13.

Dikos, who joined Killer Burger in July 2021, told QSR Magazine that Edwards and his partners “had been looking at the Killer Burger brand for some time. They met the brand before I did and had been huge believers and loved the product. And they were circling and watching the brand develop and grow and were hoping for a chance to become a part of it at the right time.”

“We were incredibly impressed with the immediate success we saw following our first opening in Salem and are confident in our decision to extend the partnership to another six units,” Edwards said in a press release. “Killer Burger is more than a great burger joint with high quality food, it’s a truly unique experience. We were huge fans of the brand prior to partnering with John and the team and view these agreements as a great opportunity to use our operational excellence to grow the brand and round out our franchising portfolio.”

Killer Burger was founded in 2010 as a “better burger” concept. It currently has 23 company-owned and franchised locations in the Pacific Northwest and plans to continue expanding in that region, in the Mountain West and beyond.