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<\/p>\nWILLISTON \u2014 Rocky\u2019s Burgers, Franks and Fries opened its third North Dakota location Monday morning in the former Slim Chickens building in Williston Square.<\/p>\n
Mike Sartwell, president and CEO of Preferred Restaurant Group, which owns Rocky\u2019s and was the Slim Chickens Williston franchisee, opened his first Rocky\u2019s restaurant in Minot two years ago.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as that was a success, we knew we wanted to come to Williston,\u201d he said. \u201cWe love doing business here.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Sartwell opened the second Rocky\u2019s restaurant in Fargo last November.<\/p>\n
Sartwell has had an entrepreneurial presence in Williston for years, dating back to when his company purchased the Taco John\u2019s franchise in Williston, then located behind Simonson\u2019s. That restaurant moved to its current location on Second Avenue West in 2005.<\/p>\n
The Slim Chickens franchise in Williston opened in April 2022. Earlier this year, Preferred Restaurant Group announced the restaurant would close in August. The location was one of his weaker performers financially, making the decision to rebrand straightforward, Sartwell said Monday morning. The building was renovated in preparation for Monday\u2019s grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony.<\/p>\n
What separates Rocky\u2019s from its competitors is explained in its motto, \u201cFresh, Fast, North Dakota Roots,\u201d which also serves as the restaurant\u2019s philosophy.<\/p>\n
The \u201cfresh\u201d covers the menu: never-frozen ground steak for the steak burgers, all-beef hot dogs in natural casing, chili made in-house, fresh-cooked bacon and sauces made from scratch. The restaurant has also added jumbo chicken tenders and wings, both fresh and never frozen.<\/p>\n
Upon entering, customers are greeted by boxes brimming with Idaho potatoes. According to a sign sticking out from a box, the taters are \u201cfuture fries.\u201d Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony began, an employee rolled out a cart and loaded spuds for the kitchen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Owner Mike Sartwell speaks during the ribbon cutting ceremony at Rocky’s Burgers, Franks and Fries on Monday, Sept. 14, 2026. <\/p>\n
James C. Falcon \/ Williston Herald<\/p>\n
The \u201cfast\u201d is the system built around that menu.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe kind of bridge that gap between people that want a really high quality, fresh product, and they want it with the convenience of a drive-through,\u201d Sartwell said. <\/p>\n
The final part of the slogan, he said, is about hospitality \u2014 North Dakota service, with guests treated like family from the moment they walk in the door.
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Community giving is also built into the brand through a program called Round Up with Rocky’s. Each quarter, the company selects a local nonprofit and invites customers to round their orders up to the nearest dollar. Rocky\u2019s matches every donation penny for penny, Sartwell said. <\/p>\n
Between the Minot and Fargo restaurants, Sartwell estimated the program has returned just over $160,000, including the match, to local communities since opening. <\/p>\n
The Williston restaurant\u2019s first selection is Toys for Tots, timed to the holiday season. Customers who round up between now and the first of the year will have their donations matched.<\/p>\n
The approach echoes a cause Sartwell\u2019s family has supported for decades. After his youngest daughter \u2014 now 28 \u2014 was born with cystic fibrosis, he began raising money for the Cystic Fibrosis Association through his Taco John\u2019s restaurants, including a holiday campaign tied to nacho sales. Williston, he said, has raised more for that effort than any other market in North Dakota.<\/p>\n
With the newest restaurant now open, Sartwell said his family is focused on expanding the Rocky\u2019s brand.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur family is focused on growing the Rocky\u2019s brand across North Dakota,\u201d Sartwell said. \u201cWe plan to open some Slim Chickens in other parts of the state, but really, one of our major focuses is growing this brand so that we open up Rocky\u2019s in every city in North Dakota.\u201d<\/p>\n
For now, expanding the restaurant’s presence outside North Dakota isn\u2019t on Sartwell\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re really going to be focused on North Dakota first,\u201d he said, adding that Rocky\u2019s is a family business. \u201cI have a hunch that I\u2019ll retire before they do anything like that, but that\u2019s up to them.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sartwell\u2019s son-in-law serves as chief operating officer, while his son works in marketing. Sartwell said he had sold off restaurants in other states about three years ago and expected to wind down his career. <\/p>\n
That is until his family convinced him to launch Rocky\u2019s, he said. <\/p>\n
The name was their idea, too.<\/p>\n
\u201cRocky is my nickname. It was my son\u2019s idea,\u201d he said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want that to happen, but the family pushed me. They said it\u2019s good to have a story, and this is our story.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added, \u201cThis is their business as much as mine, or even more. This has been a work from the heart for me.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
WILLISTON \u2014 Rocky\u2019s Burgers, Franks and Fries opened its third North Dakota location Monday morning in the former Slim Chickens building in Williston Square. Mike Sartwell, president and CEO of Preferred Restaurant Group, which owns Rocky\u2019s and was the Slim Chickens Williston franchisee, opened his first Rocky\u2019s restaurant in Minot two years ago. \u201cAs soon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":12361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[71,3535,3051,6557,6555,6558,6556,7060],"class_list":["post-12360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-north-dakota","tag-food","tag-local-business","tag-north-dakota","tag-north-dakota-dining","tag-north-dakota-food","tag-north-dakota-grocery-stores","tag-north-dakota-restaurants","tag-restaurants-and-bars"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/vive.im\/@dc\/117277635611428225","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.diningandcooking.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}