I meet Abdul Popal around noon at iniBurger, his fast-casual restaurant located in a nondescript Pleasanton shopping center. It’s lunchtime, so customers are milling about with trays of cheeseburgers, crispy chicken sandwiches and crinkle-cut fries, looking for tables in a dining room that’s heading toward capacity. 

I’m here to talk to Popal and his wife, Leeza, iniBurger’s co-owner, about the concept’s tasty burgers, clever sizes (“M’inis” and “B’igis”) and how they built this rapidly expanding fast-casual chain after a horrible experience as first-time franchisees of Burgerim, an international fast-casual concept that collapsed spectacularly in 2019.

But before I can open my notebook and start asking questions, a double smash burger lands in front of me — and quite frankly, I’m mesmerized. The thing is gorgeous, starting with a custom brioche and potato roll hybrid, complete with a high and mighty golden dome. The beef patties are generous, not lacy and wimpy; the melted cheddar cheese and diced onions have found their way into the beef’s crevices like some kind of perfect foodie Plinko.

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“OK, let’s get started,” I say, through a delicious mouthful. 

Owner Abdul Popal stands with a custom box he designed to hold multiple burgers at the iniBurger restaurant in Pleasanton, Calif., on Aug. 10, 2026.

Abdul and Leeza, who are originally from Afghanistan, met in the Bay Area and got married in 2005. Their families both fled the country shortly after the Soviet invasion in 1979, with Abdul’s folks heading to Berkeley and Oakland and Leeza’s landing in Fremont before settling in Union City.

Abdul never worked in food, but Leeza’s first job was at McDonald’s. “I got all my discipline from that job,” she said. Leeza spent most of her career in real estate and finance, but she can run the front and back of the house like a champ. “I love it,” she said. “I’m a people person.” 

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She’s very much the face of iniBurger, she explains over a platter of cheese fries that somehow maintain their crinkly crunch for hours. In addition to onboarding franchisees — today she’s meeting someone who wants to take the brand to the Peninsula — and spending time at the Pleasanton headquarters, she regularly visits iniBurger’s other locations in Fremont, Santa Clara, Berkeley and Campbell to chat with customers and check on quality control. 

From left, falafel, Malibu grilled chicken, and double decker........

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