Last month Half Eaten Cookie Hospitality opened the first stand-alone location of its casual smash burger joint, C Burger. But it’s not just any burger place, the meat used in the patties comes from a ranch focused on regenerative farming.
“It’s a holistic approach to raising cattle that enhances sustainability and allows you to be as carbon neutral as possible,” said Half Eaten Cookie Hospitality (HEC) founder Bryan Dayton. “We’re returning to the natural way that animals graze, mimicking the way the buffalo used to roam.”
Aside from tapping into the native ways large animals live on the land, regenerative farming and ranching prioritizes soil health, biodiversity, and carbon sequestration. All this helps to support, and in some cases rebuild, ecosystems for long term effects. It also makes for healthy herds and in the end, quality and nutrient-dense meat.
Located on West Pearl Street in the former Oskar Blues Taproom, C Burger joins the company’s Boulder portfolio of restaurants including Oak on Fourteenth and Corrida. But where the former places offer fine dining, C Burger fills the fast casual void while maintaining the group’s emphasis on environmentalism and its sustainability vision.
It’s that goal that pushed Dayton to create his own sustainable and regenerative ranch, the Corrida Cattle Company in Colorado’s Western Slope. Unlike contemporary monoculture farming, regenerative agriculture involves putting as much value into the land as it takes. Dayton considers regenerative farming and ranching a necessity for the future of food, before extractive farming practices strip the land of its nutrients. The end goal isn’t just commercial success for C Burger, but a fundamental shift in food systems to benefit all parties including consumers, ranchers, cattle, and the land itself.
That’s why in 2022, Dayton brought Corrida on to participate in the flagship Land to Market program with the Savory Institute in Boulder. The goal centered around creating a program to both help the farms and remain economically sound for restaurants.
Through the partnership, HEC collaborated with various ranchers, including Western States Ranches at the base of Grand Mesa in Delta County. The multi-sourcing model allowed the company to make inroads into the regenerative beef industry while supporting the viability of the market as a whole.
By understanding the market, Dayton was able to use the same beef served at Corrida at C Burger. The primals, or the first cuts of meat separated from an animal during the butchering process, go to Corrida for its high-end steak and dry-aging program. The ground beef goes to the C Burger outlets. It’s the division of meat that helps make C Burger affordable, running $8 to $14 for a burger, depending on size and accouterments.
“There’s a lot of ground beef in every animal that we harvest,” said Dayton, who launched the first C Burger inside an Englewood brewery in September, 2023. Prior to C Burger, he added, the regenerative beef wasn’t, “going into the food system where it [could] be honored in the way we want to honor it.”
All of the burgers can be made with double patties or a single patty. The A Burger is the classic cheeseburger with American cheese, pickles and onions. The B Burger comes with tomatoes and lettuce. Or, get the signature C Burger, where the C is for Colorado cuisine, which includes smoked bacon, crispy jalapenos, and green chili sauce.
The french fries ($5) are fried in beef tallow, and customers can request a light sprinkling of parsley and rosemary for an extra 50-cents. C Burger even has items for non burger lovers, including a fried chicken sandwich ($14) or C Bites nuggets (6 for $7, 12 for $14), salad option, and soft-serve ice cream ($6).
“We’re not trying to do anything crazy,” said Dayton. “We just want to make good burgers in a good, fun space.”
With bright subway tiles, green beadboard paneling, and a long, inviting bar, the new eatery has an energetic and welcoming vibe with a vintage burger joint feel. The patio offers ideal seating for people-watching. Soon, added Dayton, C Burger will be joined by C Bar, a cocktail bar meant to compliment the venue with solid drinks, sustainability dedication, and another place you’ll feel good being in.
Visit C Burger in Boulder Sunday through Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., and Thursday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. 921 Pearl St., Boulder, cburgerco.com
