When is National Cheeseburger Day?
National Cheeseburger Day 2027 is on Saturday
Saturday, September 18, 2027
September 18 every year. That's in 349 days.
until National Cheeseburger Day begins, in your time zone
National Cheeseburger Day is an informal US food holiday for the hamburger topped with melted cheese, a combination several American restaurants claim to have invented in the 1920s and 1930s. Its own founder is undocumented.
About National Cheeseburger Day
National Cheeseburger Day celebrates one of the most familiar American meals, from diner griddles and backyard grills to roadside stands. Who started the day, and when, is not documented, and it has no official status. Local and national news outlets have treated September 18 as the date for years.
The cheeseburger's own history is better recorded, though still disputed. The best-known claim belongs to the Rite Spot, a family roadside stand on Colorado Boulevard at the western edge of Pasadena, California. Accounts say the owner's teenage son, Lionel Sternberger, put a slice of cheese on a cooking patty in the mid-1920s; reports give the year as 1924 or 1926. PBS SoCal notes that he called it a cheese hamburger rather than a cheeseburger.
Other places stake their own claims. A Los Angeles restaurant called O'Dell's offered burgers topped with cheese and chili by 1928. Kaelin's in Louisville, Kentucky, says it created the cheeseburger, and the name, in 1934. A trademark on the word cheeseburger went to a Denver drive-in in 1935. With several competing stories and no single record, the cheeseburger has no undisputed inventor.
The day is not a public holiday, and how people mark it is up to them.
Sources: PBS SoCal: Were Cheeseburgers Invented in Pasadena?, KPTM FOX 42: Lettuce celebrate National Cheeseburger Day (September 18, 2022). How we check dates.
How to mark National Cheeseburger Day
- Grill or griddle cheeseburgers at home and compare cheeses: American, cheddar, Swiss and pepper jack all melt differently.
- Try the smash method: press a ball of ground beef thin on a very hot pan for crisp edges, then add the cheese right away.
- Visit a long-running local diner or drive-in and ask about its burger history.
- Make a vegetarian or turkey version for friends who skip beef.
- Read about the competing invention claims from Pasadena, Louisville and Denver and decide which story you believe.
National Cheeseburger Day dates
| Year | Date |
|---|---|
| 2025 | Thursday, September 18, 2025 |
| 2026 | Friday, September 18, 2026 |
| 2027 | Saturday, September 18, 2027 |
| 2028 | Monday, September 18, 2028 |
| 2029 | Tuesday, September 18, 2029 |
| 2030 | Wednesday, September 18, 2030 |
| 2031 | Thursday, September 18, 2031 |
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Frequently asked questions
When is National Cheeseburger Day 2027?
National Cheeseburger Day 2027 is on Saturday, September 18, 2027. It falls on September 18 every year. In 2028, it is on Monday, September 18, 2028.
Who invented the cheeseburger?
No one knows for certain. The most cited claim credits Lionel Sternberger at his family's Rite Spot stand in Pasadena, California, in the mid-1920s, while Kaelin's in Louisville and a Denver drive-in have their own claims from the 1930s.
Who started National Cheeseburger Day?
No founder or sponsoring organization is documented. The date is widely observed through news and social media coverage.
Is National Cheeseburger Day a public holiday?
No. National Cheeseburger Day is an observance, not a public holiday, so schools, banks, government offices and most businesses keep their normal hours.