Not a Damn Chance Burger has a simple menu: A $16 burger, $5 fries, and $8 “beast mode” fries, and that’s it.
“It’s the same burger everywhere because we want it to be [a place] where you get that same burger in Denver and in Austin,” said Williams, a professional skateboarder, who teamed up in 2022 with Frankland Lee, a prolific chef and restaurateur probably best known for his Sushi by Scratch concept. “So it’s all about quality control and the execution. That’s why we do one burger and fries one way, because we want that to be the best damn burger you’ve ever had and we don’t want to overcomplicate things.”
Currently there are four locations of NADC Burger in Austin, Texas, and one each in Houston, Chicago, and Denver. Denver is the newest location, having opened in mid-December of 2024.
Regular and Beast Mode fries. Photo credit: Not a Damn Chance Burger
The burger consists of a double patty of 100% RC Ranch wagyu beef from Texas, American cheese, secret sauce, onions, pickles, and “slightly tamed jalapeños.” Beast Mode fries come with essentially the same topping as the burger. Guests can order the burgers without one or more of the toppings, but that’s about their only option for customization. Each burger is made to order.
Williams said there’s a chance they may expand the menu later on, but seven shops in, he and the team are happy with the concept as it is.
Denver was a natural fourth market for the small chain. Colorado had long been a favorite place for Williams to visit, he loves skateboarding in Denver, and he attends the Zumiez 100K event in Keystone, Colo., every year.
So when Frankland Lee discovered a great spot in downtown Denver’s Larimer Square, the gears were put in motion. Lee found the new location while looking for a place to expand Sushi By Scratch, which he runs with his wife, Margarita Kallas-Lee. The intimate omakase experience only seats 10 people, two times a night, almost like a sushi speakeasy.
Because it’s so small, Lee was drawn to a basement space in downtown Denver. Once there, he realized the upstairs area would be perfect for his collaboration with Williams. In fact, the “hidden” door to the omakase room is located in the burger joint’s wall.
Williams and Frankland Lee scouted out the area and found that nothing quite matched what their concept was offering.
“We walked around the area for, like, a mile or two, checking out [what was around], I think we ate like eight or nine burgers that day,” Williams said. “There were good burgers there, but they were sit-down places, where 40 minutes later you get your burger, you know, kind of thing.”
NADC Burger aims to get people in and out in 20 minutes or less.
Williams actually timed each burger order as he scouted out the city. He found there weren’t any nearby eateries serving a fast-casual burger, and certainly not one of the NADC Burger’s caliber. It’s also nearly impossible to find a double-patty wagyu burger for just $16, a price NADC can offer because the chain works directly with the ranch that supplies the beef.
The Not a Damn Chance Burger. Photo credit: Not a Damn Chance Burger
So how did a pro skateboarder and chef of a Michelin-starred concept end up in business together? Like many modern-day “meet cute” stories, they started chatting through social media while the skateboarder was in Austin for a coaching summit. The chef invited him to eat at Sushi By Scratch. Williams did and ended up talking to Lee for hours about food and skateboarding.
“It was awesome. We got to talking and became really good friends, so to speak,” said Williams, who also gave Lee some of the spice rubs he had been making and selling under the Neen Williams Co. banner since 2018. “Then he came up to me one day and he was like, yo, these are really good. We should do something together.”
The pair had been giving each other restaurant recommendations, and they found most of the places were burger joints. Hence the idea to open a burger place together, and the first NADC Burger opened in an Austin bar as a walk-up window in 2022.
Now, Lee and Williams are slowly expanding the burger business, but they aren’t in a rush. For now, they are happy promoting the skateboard culture through the restaurants, as well as supporting local artists and serving a burger to be proud of.
