The Middle

A good hamburger never goes out of style, so if you’re thinking about making an addition to your current menu, a good place to start building your best burger is the choice of patty.

Quite simply creating a burger that ticks all the boxes without compromising on taste, quality or profitability can be challenging.

Choosing the right patty need not be a challenge. In the market today are a variety of quality, budget or gourmet offerings, each of which can go a long way in determining whether or not market demand matches your enthusiasm for your ideas. It can help identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities and help to understand the pros and cons of a selection.

Adding burgers to the menu is very cost effective with cooking and refrigeration equipment already on hand. There are no start up costs which could be a barrier to the menu addition.

Another strength would be using premium ingredients. Prime beef, or a combination of meats with a good fat ratio so that the patty is juicy and fresh tasting. Offering fresher, higher quality beef and making the patties adhere to the recommended portion size for a single serving of food.

A weakness to adding burgers to the menu could be a lack of differentiation. If the offering is another “fresh” burger, you may lack the market differentiation to stand out. How will you find a way to make your burgers unique in a market saturated with burger offerings?

Trending this year are patty alternatives, from mixed meat patties, to plant based alternatives, chicken, fish or vegan patties all offer opportunities for differentiation and increased sales.

In any analysis of the burger market, consideration must be given to consumer health concerns related to obesity and eating red meat, changing dietary habits, and the increasing focus by consumers on identifying unhealthy foods.

These challenges can derail a burger addition to a menu unless innovative ways are found to address them. A burger plan should also include an evaluation of the other outlets in the surrounding area that sell similarly priced burgers.

While the biggest threat may be the fast food franchises with big advertising budgets that dominate the market; making sure that any burger offering is different and not a me-too is also crucial.

When deciding on an offering, from affordable burgers to gourmet creations, the main driver has to be that they fill the niche in the target location.

Targeting health-conscious consumers with an offering of the leanest beef or the trending meat alternative are prime opportunities to gain the competitive advantage.

• American Burger

• Mediterranean Vegetable • Beetroot • Pear & Fig • Capsicum & Apricot • Roasted Vegetable • Caramelised Onion • Sage & Onion • Farmstyle Plum & Tamarillo • Spicy Eggplant • Farmstyle Tomato • Sundried Tomato & Kalamata Olive • Green Tomato & Jalapeno • Sweet Roast Capsicum • Mango & Peach • Tomato & Red Pepper