[2][3] In 2008 it was the largest hamburger restaurant chain in Finland,[2] Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with a market share larger than that of U.S.-based rival McDonald's.

Hesburger primarily purveys fast foods such as hamburgers, fried potatoes, salads and desserts.

[5] The chain's history reaches back to 1966,[5] when 20-year old Heikki Salmela opened a street food kiosk called Kievarin grilli in Naantali.

He later opened the first Hesburger in the Hansakortteli shopping centre in 1980 on Kristiinankatu in Turku, which became the first element of the first fast food restaurant chain in Finland.

[4] With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 cities and towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain Carrols in 2002.

The purchase of Carrols gave Hesburger some previously nonexistent leverage on the fast food market of Helsinki.

In the summer of 1988 through the joint Soviet-Finnish enterprise in St. Petersburg (and later in Vyborg and Petrozavodsk) street tents opened under the Liha Polar brand made in the Hesburger color scheme.

[18][19][20] The network worked on the rights of master franchise LLC Rusburger, owned by the meat-industrial company Ostankino.