Switched-on foodservice businesses jumping on the burger bandwagon

Burgers are bigger than ever before on foodservice menus – so it’s no surprise that switched-on foodservice professionals are jumping on the burger bandwagon and building successful brands and businesses based around this consumer favourite. 

Recent years have seen the rise of new burger chains, such as Grill’d which started off as one restaurant in the Melbourne suburb of Hawthorn and has since expanded across all mainland states Huxtaburger, which grew out of hatted Fitzroy restaurant Huxtable and has since supplanted it, opening outlets across Melbourne and now expanding into Sydney and Perth; and wholly plant-based burgers from Soul Burger, which now has four venues across Sydney.  

Complementing these are the myriad of independent burger businesses which have sprung up, the most successful of which have carved out their own niche in the market through distinctive branding and quality product offerings. At Burger Hounds in Wahroonga on Sydney’s north shore, chef/owner James Balingal says most of the other takeaways in the area offer fish and chips and salads as well as burgers, but his business is unapologetically a “burger joint”.

“Burgers are one of those foods that Aussies will go to for comfort or reward,” James says, “because we don’t make any apologies for them. We’re not trying to tart them up with kale or quinoa and say they’re healthy. They’re a ‘sometimes food’ and when you want to come and have them, we’ll take care of you and you’ll leave smiling. Burgers can brighten a crappy day or enhance a happy one. Personally, I’ve never had a day in my life that couldn’t be made a little bit better with a beautiful burger!”

Chef Mark Baylis, who ran a business called Global Burgers back in 2002 – preceding the massive burger craze of recent years – says today’s pioneering burger businesses are those which successfully differentiate themselves. “Look at Burger’s by Josh - he’s using the foundation of what constitutes a really good burger but extending it a little bit, making them bigger and better. At Belles Hot Chicken in Fitzroy in Melbourne, they’re doing a chicken burger that is absolutely to die for. In Sydney, Mary’s at Newtown is one of the go-to places. There’s a lot going on in the burger space and consequently the ability to differentiate your burgers from the competition is getting harder.

“The key is to make sure the quality is there - don’t add fillers like breadcrumbs or egg into the pattie, keep it as pure as possible so you can taste the quality, and it’s also important to get your fat ratio right so your burger doesn’t taste dry. Texture is very important, in fact what really defines a good burger is the texture you feel when you bite into it. There’s recently been a push to raise the quality of veggie burgers – chefs are looking to make  that authentic burger experience accessible to vegetarians. There’s some very clever stuff being done with the aim of creating veggie patties that look and feel like meat.”

Melbourne burger business Huxtaburger ticks all the boxes Mark mentions. The brainchild of chef Daniel Wilson and business partner Jeff Wong, Huxtaburger began as an offshoot of their restaurant Huxtable on Smith St, Collingwood in a vacant space across the road from it – then took off, leading to the decision to close Huxtable and instead ride the crest of the burger wave.

“Time and place is obviously crucial for any business success,” says Huxtaburger COO Jason Jason Geriesi. “We were early on the scene, if not the first to ride the burger wave, so we developed a cult following early on and people were travelling far and wide to try the product.  We have a simple menu with high quality ingredients – like our 100 per cent beef pattie which is  a high quality mix of three types of meat including wagyu, our house mayos and our signature bun which is a glazed milk bun with a brioche taste to it.” 

 Jason attributes the demand for burgers to their being a “universally loved meal”: “No matter what country, culture, religion, everyone loves a burger – it’s something that people like to treat themselves to.”

Within a year Huxtaburger had opened a second outlet in Fulham Place in Melbourne, and another store has followed each year since. “Now we have one in Sydney and one in Perth with another one on the way,” Jason says. “Initially we thought we would take an approach of going far and wide, but after reviewing our business model we decided it was important to keep the brand quite boutique and be selective about who we partner with. We want to keep that small business feel behind it – the last thing we want to be is a cookie cutter brand.”

Huxtaburger has, however, expanded its menu from its original offering of four or five burgers plus sides like onion rings. “People want variety, they are looking to eat more ethically, and there’s a growing demand for plant-based foods and vegetarian and vegan options,” Jason confirms. “The world is changing and consumers are more educated, especially the up and coming youth who are making more conscious decisions about where they spend their money and who they give it to. 

“We spent months shopping around tasting pretty much every plant-based pattie out there and we ended up trialling one from the Alternative Meat Co and thought it was a real highlight. The fact that it was made in Australia was a massive plus as opposed to the bigger products which were imported, and we were able to work with our suppliers on the mayo and bun recipes to ensure we could deliver a great plant-based burger option.

Naturally Huxtaburger has had to take differing demographics and customer tastes into account, especially as it scales up operations and moves into different states – “We’ve continued to adjust the menu to suit different areas we go into,” Jason acknowledges. “For example in Perth we open early on Friday and serve up a breakfast menu. 

“We did also trial a shopping centre model but thought that’s not really for us – we’re focusing on high street locations where people tend to meet and hang out, inner-city locations but also some suburban stores and we could potentially go regional. A lot of people are starting to dine out more often, as opposed to cooking at home. Our core customers are definitely millennials – 18 year olds to early thirties – and we open stores where that demographic predominates. Having said that we have a store out in Ringwood which does quite well, because burgers can be a family treat as well.”