Food Truck Spotlight

A 'burgerification' philosophy boasts deep roots, loyal mobile fan base

BurgerFi is "ReDeFining the Way the World Eats Burgers," and the motto holds true for its food truck. The brand shares insight on achieving food truck success: Choose menu items that are widely popular, use the highest quality ingredients and hire culinary-focused and hospitality-focused team players.

Photo provided.

May 25, 2021 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com

Food truck: BurgerFi
Owner: BurgerFi International
Founded: February 2011
Location: Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida

How many trucks do you operate under this brand? 1

Do you operate brink-and-mortar locations under this brand and if yes how many? 120+

How did the brand come up with the name?
BurgerFi is short for Burgerfication which is "ReDeFining the Way the World Eats Burgers." BurgerFi believes people should no longer eat burgers loaded with antibiotics, steroids and growth hormones. BurgerFi believes in all natural burgers, fresh hand cut fries, colossal beer battered onion rings, Wagyu beef hot dogs and burgers, rich and creamy delicious frozen custard milkshakes and concretes.

What prompted the brand to start a food truck?
Our guests want BurgerFi at special events. BurgerFi has hosted Super Bowl parties in Boca Raton, Florida for 5+ years. BurgerFi has done charity events with the Big Heart Brigade, the Police Community Relations Board, Feeding South Florida and others. BurgerFi wants to host tailgate parties at Florida Atlantic University and the Hard Rock Stadium. BurgerFi wants to attend major festivals like Bonnaro, Burning Man, SXSW, ULTRA and others. BurgerFi wants to have the capabilities to support the World Central Kitchen in their mission to serve the communities in need around the world. The BurgerFi food truck will participate in the world famous South Beach Food and Wine Festival, , one of the greatest foodie events in the USA.

What's on your food truck menu? Why did you choose this cuisine?
The full menu: BurgerFi cheeseburgers, CEO burgers, Vegfi burgers, Beyond burgers, hand cut French fries, beer battered onion rings, fried chicken sandwiches, frozen milkshakes, desserts and classic Coca-Cola beverages. We want to serve our award winning burgers anywhere and anytime, so we needed a fully equipped giant food truck.

Do you make all the food on the truck or do you use home-based kitchen or commissary space?
All food trucks in the state of Florida are required to be based at a commissary. We use our BurgerFi restaurant in Lauderdale-by-the-Sea, Florida as the home base for food truck operations. All our food is made on the food truck.

What's the best part of being a food truck operator?
The best part of being a food truck operator is you get invited to the greatest events in Florida. The BurgerFi food truck will be featured in the Best of Fest event at the South Beach Food and Wine Festival on May 23, hosted by Andrew Zimmern. Everyone wants to have the BurgerFi food truck at their special event!

What's the worst part of operating a food truck?
Cleaning the food truck after a 1,000-plus guests' burger party and returning the food truck to pristine condition for the next event.

What lessons have you learned since launching the truck?
Always work clean, always use your most elite culinary teams, always have more food than expected as extra guests seem to come from the community!!!

Is there anything you would have done differently at the start?
Yes, we would use a different manufacturer. The company we used does not have the high standards needed to build a world class food truck. We had to design the food truck ourselves. We had to deep clean the truck after fabrication. We had to repair several major systems of the truck.

Any tips and advice to others thinking of launching a food truck?
Choose menu items which are widely popular. Prepare with the highest quality ingredients. Hire culinary focused and hospitality focused team players to operate the food truck. Use budgets for the food truck build-out, the marketing strategy and the sales and labor projections.

Do you have any anecdotes about running a food truck — any unique interactions or special events you've been booked at?
One of our favorite guests booked the food truck for the Super Bowl for five straight years in Boca Raton, Florida. The guest is a well-known perfectionist and has every detail of the party carefully orchestrated every year. We were setting up for the party about one hour before the start of the Super Bowl and we snapped the regulator off the top of the propane tank. We were shut down with under an hour to start of the game. We were beginning to panic... then we used the guest's barbecue propane tank and regulator and attached it to the back of the food truck. It was a miracle, it worked!!!

About Judy Mottl

Judy Mottl is editor of Retail Customer Experience and Digital Signage Today. She has decades of experience as a reporter, writer and editor covering technology and business for top media including AOL, InformationWeek, InternetNews and Food Truck Operator.

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