Next Level

Next Level founders Matt and Cierra de Gruyter took their big idea and risked everything to see it come to life, but they didn’t start out that way. Matt, a former Marine with a successful private equity career in oil & gas, had a comfortable life with Cierra and their young family. As Cierra led the family on a journey to explore plant-based eating for health and animal welfare reasons, they became very uncomfortable with what they saw happening in the world — escalating climate change, a lack of healthy dining options and a fundamental problem with where people get their food — and they felt a clear urgency to do something about it.

Packing up their lives, they put their heart and soul into building something new, different and very special, a plant-based burger chain that would be all about quality and sustainability – non-GMO with all organic veggies – something good for the people, animals and the planet.

This big, delicious idea from one little family grew into America’s First 100% Plant-Based Burger Joint Chain – Next Level Burger. In 2024, Next Level acquired Veggie Grill, the beloved plant-based restaurant founded in 2006. Together, Next Level Burger and Veggie Grill by Next Level comprise the largest wholly owned plant-based restaurant company in North America with 27 locations… and counting!

Next Level’s commitment to fighting climate change by developing an animal-free supply chain means every menu item features responsibly sourced, non-GMO ingredients and all-organic veggies. Today, we proudly serve up burgers for a better world on the daily in locations from coast to coast. And Matt and Cierra are still rolling up their sleeves every day to make sure every burger, shake and fry is everything they imagined in those early days of dreaming up Next Level.