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Burger Urge to open 37 new stores

Sarah Stowe

Inside Franchise Business: the Gladstone Burger Urge storeQueensland gourmet burger franchise chain Burger Urge will unveil five new restaurants this year as part of a three year goal to open 37 outlets by 2020.

The burger chain rewnowned for a cheeky approach to its menu and marketing campaigns is targeting east coast locations including Port Macquarie, Toowoomba and Brisbane CBD, and also plans to open a Sydney office.

Both franchised and company-owned stores will be opened, with an expected mix of about 70 per cent franchised, 30 percent company-owned.

Burger Urge director Sean Carthew said the brand’s expansion plans follow a period of significant restructure and refocus, which has seen it return to its roots.

“Like any fast-growing business, we’ve made our fair share of mistakes and have learnt a lot,” Carthew said.

One lesson has been to stay true to the heart of the business: advice to scale the business more like a fast food pizza chain than a restaurant turned out to be unhelpful, he said.

“When Burger Urge began 10 years ago, we made absolutely everything from scratch – we made our own patties, we hand-cut the chips, we even made sauces in-house. It was the focus on the integrity of our food that generated lines down Brunswick Street every Saturday.

“It sounds simple, but by returning to our roots, we’ve not only won back the hearts and bellies of our regular customers but attracted a new legion of Burger Urge fans.”

After launching its first interstate site in May in Newcastle Burger Urge will unveil a second NSW restaurant at Port Macquarie next month with longer term sites sent on Victoria as well.

“New South Wales and Victoria present great potential across regional, city-fringe and metro areas; we’ve been approached with some exciting development opportunities across the board.

“While we have our sights set firmly on expansion across the southern states, our home-state of Queensland still presents some great opportunities, especially in future growth pockets of the Gold Coast, Ipswich, Springfield and Beaudesert,” said Carthew.