Disha Modi is full of smiles and laughs as she talks about working in the kitchen and running her restaurant, Jungle Burger, in McKinney.

“I really enjoy it, and the part I enjoy the most is cooking,” Modi said.

Modi and her husband, Ankit, bought the restaurant in September 2016 after Modi, who was working in information technology at the time, told her husband that she wanted to change careers.

“We had eaten [at Jungle Burger] a couple of times, and we really liked the burgers plus the location is very close to our house,” Modi said. “So, when the opportunity presented itself we bought the restaurant.”

Ankit, who is an accountant, said he was never interested in owning a business but said he knew his wife really wanted to pursue this career.

“I told her, ‘As long as you can manage it and take responsibility, then no problem, we can do it together,’” Ankit said.

Modi had previously worked as a cook at Sonic [Drive-In], but coming to Jungle Burger presented its own set of challenges.

“At Sonic, it was prep food so we really didn’t have to do much with it, but here we make our own homemade patties, french fries and the vegetables are in fresh every day,” Modi said. “So it was definitely hard to keep up with managing and learning how to cook at the same time.”

Modi recently worked with her staff to add new items to the menu for the first time.

“When we were making these decisions, I wanted to see what most of the staff liked and not just one or two people’s opinion so we did sort of a survey,” Modi said. “We made different burgers for everybody on staff and then we would see their reactions after they tried them.”

Some of the new items include the Parmesan Chicken Burger and the Messy Burger, which consists of jalapenos, queso, lettuce, tomato, onions and pickles.

However, one of the most popular burgers on the menu is the Big Kahuna Burger. The burger includes an 8-ounce patty, grilled onions, mushrooms, jalapenos, bell peppers, American and provolone cheese, bacon and hickory sauce.

Modi said she is in the process of improving the decor in the restaurant to follow along with the jungle theme. Overall she said she is excited for the future of the restaurant.

“It’s cool now that I look back [and] I realize that this is what I want to do, even more than IT,” Modi said. “It’s more fun getting to hang out with [my staff] and [helping] with the customers.”

Jungle Burger
318 Central Expressway
972-542-9400
www.facebook.com/jungleburgermckinney
Hours: Sun.-Thu. 11 a.m.-9 p.m., Fri.-Sat. 11 a.m.-10 p.m.