Walk into Cheeseburger Randy’s in downtown Foley and ask for Randy, and you will get a laugh. There is no Randy. There is, however, a crew of people eager to talk burgers: Alex Warner, who dreamed up the place; Marcus Owens, his longtime friend from Colorado who moved to Foley to help make it happen; and a team that includes Faith, Caleb, Sam and Sand. Together they have built a patio burger bar that has become one of the liveliest additions to a downtown in the middle of a revival.
A Food Truck Concept in a Historic Building
“We’re a patio burger bar,” said Owens, who lives with his wife in a classic bungalow just steps from the kitchen. “I kind of think of it as a food truck concept that we put in a building because we found this great location that we were lucky enough to get into.”
That location is 209 S. Alston Street, a historic building that over the years has housed businesses including Rosie Lee’s Fudge and Candies Shop and Sugar, Spice & Soul Café. The concept was straightforward: smash burgers, executed expertly and served with plenty of smiles.
Renovating an older building rarely goes according to schedule, and this one was no exception. The work took longer than expected, which gave the partners extra time to brainstorm names. They wanted something unusual and memorable.
How Randy Got His Name
“At first we were going to name it after Marcus’ wife, Jenny, and it was going to be very different as far as aesthetics go,” said Warner, who is the one most often mistaken for “Randy.” “But then we looked at maybe Cheeseburger Alex’s or Cheeseburger Marcus’, but those didn’t really sound good, and then we started asking people ‘What do you think about Cheeseburger Randy’s?’ Someone said, ‘That is a terrible name; It sounds like where mechanics go to smoke cigarettes,’ and we said, ‘That’s exactly what it is.’”
That is not literally the business model, of course, but the spirit fits. Anyone with grease on their hands would feel right at home. The restaurant is a lively place, full of happy faces, upbeat music overhead and the smell of beef hitting a hot griddle.
Three Burgers, Done Right
The menu is so simple that Warner’s sister, Faith, can cheerfully walk a customer through the entire thing in under a minute. There are three burgers, all built on the same foundation:
- The basic: two thin, griddle-seared patties on a pillowy bun with melted American cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced pickles and a zingy house sauce that starts with a Thousand Island base.
- The Conecuh deluxe: the basic burger topped with sliced Conecuh sausage.
- The jalapeño deluxe: the basic burger topped with a mixture of cream cheese and chopped jalapeños.
Sides are fries, onion rings or a combination of the two.
The Conecuh option is a distinctly Alabama touch. Conecuh sausage, the smoked sausage made in Evergreen, Alabama, since the 1940s, has a devoted following across the state and the Gulf Coast, and it shows up on menus from tailgates to fine dining.
The smash burger style itself has become one of the most popular trends in American casual dining. Cooks press a ball of ground beef onto a very hot flat-top griddle, flattening it into a thin patty that develops a deeply browned, crispy crust. Stacking two thin patties with melting cheese between them delivers more of that seared flavor in every bite than a single thick burger.
In a way, the trend is a return to the roots of the American hamburger. Thin patties cooked on a flat griddle were the standard at early burger stands, including White Castle, which opened in Wichita, Kansas, in 1921 and helped make the hamburger a national staple. Roadside burger joints and lunch counters of the mid-20th century followed the same approach: a short menu, a hot griddle and food served the moment it was ready. Cheeseburger Randy’s counter-service, eat-it-now philosophy fits squarely in that tradition.
“People love that it’s so simple,” Faith said. “You go to other places, and it’s hard to do really well with 75 things on the menu, but we’ve got it down to a streamlined science, and it’s so good. I eat it like five to six times a week.”
The open-air format suits South Baldwin County well. With mild winters and a long spring and fall, outdoor dining is comfortable for much of the year along the Gulf Coast, and patio restaurants have become gathering spots for families, friends and neighbors looking for a relaxed meal.
Lunch Launch Draws a Line Down the Block
The open-air restaurant opened in the fall of 2024 and for its first year served only in the evenings, from 4 to 8 p.m. In mid-September 2025, it added lunch hours, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and customers responded with enthusiasm.
The day before the lunch debut, the team held a trial run to get the kitchen up to speed, planning to give away 100 free cheeseburgers. “When we arrived, there were probably 45 people already in line, and at 11, when we opened, the line was quickly out the front door and all the way to the corner at the end of the street,” Owens recalled. “We ended up giving away probably 200 cheeseburgers.”
A Homecoming for Alex Warner
Warner is originally from Michigan but lived in Foley during his high school years before heading off to explore other places, including Seattle and Denver. On visits home, he said, he kept seeing more and more potential in Foley.
In a sense, he joined the family business. His mother and aunt have owned the popular Copper Kettle Tea Bar in Foley for many years. Before launching Cheeseburger Randy’s, Warner tested the waters with Bagel Boy, just a few blocks away.
Looking back on the restaurant’s first year, Warner said he felt relief that they pulled it off and excitement about what comes next. He does not want to change the formula much. The restaurant already holds a liquor license, and as of fall 2025 the partners were considering adding frozen margaritas. Both men said they want to be careful not to drift away from the fun, casual, laid-back atmosphere that defines the place.
“We have some beers,” Warner said, “but we’re also a very kid-friendly, family-friendly restaurant, so we didn’t want to turn it into a bar.”
No Phone Orders, No Delivery, No Apologies
Another example of the stripped-down approach: at Cheeseburger Randy’s, you order the old-fashioned way, standing in line at the counter.
“You can’t call in, you can’t order online, you have to be here,” Warner said. “Burgers and fries are meant to be eaten now, not 40 minutes later after someone delivers them to you.”
He knows he could sell more burgers by offering those options, but for now he is holding firm. It is part of his hands-on approach to running the place and mingling with customers.
“I want to interact with everyone that comes through,” Warner said. “I like being able to talk to all the people here and actually look at them so I can see that they’re enjoying everything.”
There is a practical logic to the policy, too. Thin smash patties and hot fries are at their best in the first few minutes after they leave the griddle and fryer. A burger that sits in a delivery bag steams its own bun and loses the crisp edges that make the style worth ordering.
Downtown Foley’s Revival
Cheeseburger Randy’s is part of a larger wave of energy in downtown Foley. The city grew up around the railroad in the early 20th century, founded by Chicago businessman John B. Foley, and its historic downtown still reflects those roots, with the restored depot that houses the Foley Railroad Museum and Heritage Park at its center.
In recent years, Foley has become one of the fastest-growing cities in Alabama, fueled by its location on the route to Gulf Shores and Orange Beach and by major attractions such as OWA Parks & Resort. That growth has brought new residents and new investment to the historic core, where local owners are filling older storefronts with restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques. Community events like the Chicago Street Supper Club and seasonal festivals draw crowds downtown, and businesses like Cheeseburger Randy’s give people another reason to linger.
If You Go
- Where: 209 S. Alston Street in downtown Foley.
- Hours: as of fall 2025, lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. and dinner from 4 to 8 p.m.; check the restaurant’s social media for current hours.
- How to order: in person at the counter only; no phone or online orders.
- What to try: any of the three burgers, with a combo of fries and onion rings if you cannot decide.
- Who it is for: everyone; it is family-friendly, with beer available for adults.
A restaurant named after a man who does not exist, with a menu that fits on an index card and no way to order except showing up, might sound like a gamble. In downtown Foley, it has turned out to be exactly what people were hungry for.