Provo Burger opened March 25 at 3225 N. Canyon Road, in the same building and location where the iconic Ripple’s Drive-in stood for more than 60 years. 

Provo Burger’s ownership, branding and recipes are completely separate from the Ripple’s name. But the goal from new owners Kyler Roney and Nico Niccoli is a similar one: to offer a local establishment where Provo residents can gather and eat quality food.

“I grew up close by. I have memories as a kid coming here and getting different Ripple’s shakes and burgers, and they’re good memories. It’s a fun place to hang out,” Roney said. “And I think it was always the heart of the community here. So I think a lot of people are just happy to have something back.”

The early returns say Roney’s assumption was right. The first 10 days Provo Burger was open, lines spilled to the road and every table was full from open to close. 

“We were super overwhelmed by the response from the community. We hoped it would do well, but we honestly weren’t anticipating the turnout that we got,” Niccoli said.

Creating Provo Burger

Niccoli grew up in a restaurant family and Roney, always passionate about cooking, went to New York to get a culinary degree. Together, they have turned their backgrounds into a successful restaurant partnership, first taking over, Marley’s Gourmet Sliders, starting a catering company and later buying La Jolla Groves, along with other restaurants. 

When Ripple’s closed in 2021 following the death of owner and operator Todd Ripple, Niccoli and Roney considered buying the lease on the place and starting a new establishment, but the timing wasn’t right. Instead, it was leased to Ono’s, a donut and gourmet sandwich shop.

When the Ono’s group reached out to them more recently to take over their lease, though, Niccoli and Roney didn’t say no twice.

“It was really a no-brainer,” Niccoli said. “We didn’t really even say, ‘Should we do this?’ It was more of like, ‘What do we have to do to make this happen?'”

A big step was building a menu. They both consider themselves believers in quality, and Roney said he’d rather pay a bit more to get a better meal. He also said he likes simple foods. Hence, the formula: simple, quality foods. 

On the menu are four burgers: the single, double, triple and kids. You choose your own toppings. There’s a regular fry and a family fry, and six shake flavors. They did 10 to 15 taste tests with friends and family to figure out what products would be best.

Niccoli and Roney settled on buying their buns from a local bakery, made the same day or for next day. For the hamburger patties, they buy a wagyu beef product from Main Street Meats, a butcher shop in Salt Lake City. They also have beef tallow fries and really good ice cream, Roney said.

“That’s kind of my background training is the food, right?” he said. “If you focus on the food and make it good, people will come. Yes, we know we’re a little bit more expensive than some of those fast food chains that are close by. But we want to serve quality.”

Involving the community

With other restaurants they own, Niccoli said they will see somebody they know come in once or twice a week. At Provo Burger, he estimated 75% of customers he either knows or recognizes.

Many of the employees they hired are young adults from each of their neighborhoods. The restaurants set up, with outdoor seating on large, rectangular tables, creates a social environment, with multiple groups even sharing a table.

“There’s always someone from the community that you know, or even not, but you’re now making friends with someone that you don’t know, but lives in Provo two blocks down the street,” Niccoli said.

As the weather warms, the owners plan on leaning further into the community spirit by hosting events. Within two days of opening, Niccoli said a high school kid asked if they could host a battle of the bands in the restaurant parking lot.

“We’re putting that together with him and his group, just high school kids on a weekend night,” he said.

There are thoughts of hosting an open mic night once a month, and working with local fire captains to bring down some fire trucks on a Saturday and give kids a safety seminar. There are also local car clubs that have shown interest in having the restaurant be a meeting point.

And of course, there’s BYU football games in the fall that they’re expecting will create busy Saturdays.

“We’re open to any of the ideas that the community has. We’ve got literally a house next door to us, one to the south of us, it’s in the neighborhood,” Niccoli said.

It’s exactly what the duo set out for.

“We are Provo, we’re the local community,” Roney said. “That’s what we care about. We don’t think we’re going to get rich here or anything. We did this because we wanted somewhere local and fun to come hang out and eat at.”