HUNTSVILLE, Alabama – There's a new sign behind the glass of Cheeburger Cheeburger that likely will be better received than the one posted six months ago reading, "closed until further notice."

The new one said the popular eatery at 5000 Whitesburg Drive will re-open on Monday. What the sign doesn't tell you is that the restaurant also has a new owner, 20 new employees and a long list of new equipment and décor.

"New attitude, new atmosphere," said Charlie Eich, the new owner who brings 15 years of Cheeburger Cheeburger experience from his store in Chattanooga.

Under the previous franchise owner, Big Burger Southeast LLC, based in Dothan, the Huntsville Cheeburger Cheeburger was not operating at its full potential, Eich said, and that was largely due to usual problems from absentee ownership. He acknowledged that the former owner was delinquent on tax payments to City of Huntsville.

Before buying the Cheeburger Cheeburger in Chattanooga, Eich said he worked as a consultant to help fix failing restaurants, much like Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares or Restaurant Impossible. The Chattanooga Cheeburger Cheeburger was a client he bought after fixing it.

A big part of the new atmosphere is something customers won't see – unless you personally ask Eich. The restaurant was "nasty" and needed thorough cleaning, he said.

Eich and his crew spent 12 to 15 hours a day for a month just cleaning and hired a professional to clean the grill, he said. The restaurant also features an array of new items to make it cleaner, including a dishwasher, food prep table, plumbing, sinks and drink dispenser. There's also a new TV and wall decorations, but the rest of the 50s-era décor is what fans have long identified with the store.

The health department doesn't give a numeric score for first time inspections, but Eich said it was a 95 and would have been 99 except for a couple of small corrections needed in the ladies restroom: dust on air vent, no lid on trash can and the automatic towel dispenser only gave one sheet.

"We're trying to do it the right way. We want to be around a long time," Eich said.

Eich brought his manager from Chattanooga to operate the Whitesburg store and will groom a new manager from the 20 employees he has hired.

Buying the Huntsville store made good sense, he said, because he personally knows how the operate a successful franchise, Huntsville had an established customer base and the landlord was willing to bargain with him rather than have to refit the store space.

There will be an invitation-only soft opening with a limited menu Saturday, and doors will open for regular customers Monday. A grand opening will occur once the staff is up to full speed, he said, and patrons should be on the lookout for a Groupon ad May 14 and a coupon mailout also this month.

Cheeburger, Cheeburger, which gets its name from a 1970s Saturday Night Live sketch, has been a fixture at the shopping center since October 2001. It had a second location for a short time at the Village at Providence, but it closed about two years and was replaced by The Brickhouse Sports Café.

It is known for one-pound hamburgers made with all-natural beef, "frings" baskets of fries and kitchen-battered onion rings and nearly 1.3 million combinations of milk shake flavor.