2021 Fast Casual Top 100 Movers & Shakers Awards Ceremony
BurgerFi food truck delivers on chain's 'redefining' mission
A global pandemic didn't stall a Florida-based burger chain's growth, innovation or food truck launch.
June 14, 2021 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
The COVID-19 pandemic proved to be one of the most, if not the most, challenging time for the foodservice industry, but one brand didn't let a year of mandated business closures and stay-at-home consumer guidance get in its way of innovating and launching its first-ever food truck strategy.
In fact, the BurgerFi food truck, launched at the recent Food Network and Cooking Channel South Beach Wine & Food Festival in Miami, is just one of many achievements for BurgerFi International in the past 12 months and further evidence the 125-location chain is fulfilling its mission to redefine the way the world eats burgers.
Founded in 2011, this year marks BurgerFi's tenth anniversary. It was voted as the top better burger chain for fast casual restaurants, in the USA Today 10 Best Reader's Choice competition. And, after seven straight years of being named to Fast Casual's Top 100 Movers & Shakers, it took the No. 1 spot this year.
In presenting the award during the virtual event, sponsored by Steritech, Fast Casual editor Cherryh Cansler noted that as COVID-19 hit the foodservice industry extremely hard BurgerFi did not shy away from growth and innovation.
"They added curbside pickup ordering, a new kitchen prototype design with dual assembly lines and its first drive-thru as well as 10 ghost kitchens. They even landed Martha Stewart as a board member and went public. Any of those things alone would have been a huge accomplishment, but to do them all in one year is amazing," said Cansler in presenting the award.
"We are incredibly proud of this milestone and know the best is yet to come," BurgerFi CEO Julio Ramirez said in accepting the award.
All the achievements in the past year are due to the chain's exceptional staff and dedication to the company's philosophy, according to Ramirez. Its latest accomplishment, its food truck, which took four months to create, from initial development to launch, reflects the brand's passion.
"We thought it was a progressive move to add a food truck to our ever-growing brand, this way we would be able to offer the truck to fans of the brand for their special events. Going public jump-started this idea and from there we made it happen," Ramirez told Food Truck Operator in an email interview. "We wanted to build a modern food truck that would offer the high-quality burgers that our brand is known for, from there we worked on logistics and unveiled the "Fi on the Fly" food truck at this year's South Beach Food and Wine Festival."
The 34-foot truck, which Ramirez calls state-of-the-art and which the brand has deemed "Fi on the Fly," features a Bluetooth stereo system, green LED trim lighting and a customizable menu board screen.
"Our menu is digital and can be formatted to be app-driven. During COVID, technology really was a huge component we took advantage of especially our BurgerFi app. We wanted to continue to include it in all aspects of BurgerFi," said Ramirez.
When it comes to developing and launching a food truck strategy, Ramirez makes two recommendations.
"Don't underestimate the smaller-sized kitchen on a food truck, it still is an incredible amount of work," he said. "Also choose menu items that are widely popular and always supply the food truck with more food than you think you need."
That advice proved true during the wine and food truck festival where the truck served close to 1,000 fans within 2 1/2 hours. All the food is made fresh to order on the truck, from cheeseburgers to custard shakes as well as the chain's made-to-order sides including fries and onion rings. When serving at private parties and catering events the truck can serve between 80 to 100 guests per hour and up to 300-plus guests.
"We are looking forward to attending both public and private events throughout the summer, including everything from festivals to weddings," Ramirez told Food Truck Operator.
The food truck's home-base is South Florida (Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties), but the concept is available for booking across Florida for an additional fee. Private party packages start at $2,500 and every event is customizable, according to a press release.
"With the slew of awards we've won recently, BurgerFi is on a roll. Not just figuratively but now literally, with our state of the art, mobile kitchen and crowd pleaser serving up our fresh all-natural favorites. It's a great way to reach more people beyond our existing locations and participate in community events where guests can sample our amazing all-natural, premium burgers without antibiotics, hormones or steroids, our fresh-cut fries with gourmet sauces, award-winning VegeFi and better than ice cream custard shakes and concretes and more," Ramirez said in a press release on the food truck launch.
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