Twin brothers Dallas and Grant Miller’s restaurant was struck with horrible luck even before the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.
The fraternal twins started the business as a Burgerim franchise in Carmel in December 2019, but as it was opening that month, the company told franchise owners it was considering bankruptcy. That was after all franchise owners had gone weeks without hearing from the corporate owner of the once fast-growing chain.
Dallas said the owner, from Israel, took the franchise fees but didn’t issue support and has since left the U.S. Several lawsuits have been filed by franchise owners, and some have gone bankrupt. Restaurant Business magazine described it as one of the worst disasters in the history of franchises. The Millers forged ahead and never closed, offering curbside service during the 2020 shutdown.
The Carmel restaurant, 560 W. Carmel Dr., recently was rebranded as Flight Burger Pints & Patties, which is privately owned by the brothers. Flight Burger had an official opening with a ribbon cutting May 18, but the name changed April 23.
“This is our own concept,” Dallas said. “Once (Burgerim) went under, we started working on building our own thing. We created something similar because our customers like what we had. We created this and people love it. We have all Wagyu beef instead of Angus. We have flights of beer and fights of the burgers as well.”
Customers can get a flight of three small sandwiches. There are options of lamb, salmon, turkey and crispy chicken.
“People like to mix and match, so we have all kinds of different sandwiches,” Dallas said.
Grant said there are some vegan, falafel, gluten-free and halal options.
“There are not a whole lot of options for halal-certified meats around here,” Dallas said. “We had customers talk to us about that.”
Grant lives in Frankfort and Dallas is a Carmel resident. The 26-year-old twins are Frankfort High School graduates who went to Indiana State University. Both had previously worked at Jimmy John’s together.
The restaurant is open every day from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
For more, visit flight-burger.com.
