Melbourne-based Burger Road run by the husband-wife team of Ishu Singh Wadhawan and Anna Dewan is ready to move into the interstate competition.
Ishu came to Australia in 2006 with a degree in hospitality along with an extreme passion for cooking delicious food. He worked in the food industry for more than 12 years as Head Chef and Manager of a fine-dining restaurant.
In 2017, Ishu and Anna decided to open their own American-styled burger joint in the northside suburb of Fairfield. At present, Burger Road has three corporate stores and four franchisee-owned stores in Melbourne. Ishu and Anna plan to more than double their presence by next year with the opening of 15 new stores in Melbourne alone.
Although, like other restaurants and fast-food chains, Burger Road too is affected by the shortage of staff. However, Anna and Ishu told Buiness News Australia that they have devised a unique way through their dedicated recruitment strategy that consists of a six-week training program to address this shortage. Ishu says:
“We hire local staff and have made a number of changes to our onboarding, which includes offering in-house training; meaning anyone, regardless of their prior experience, can get a job at Burger Road, grow themselves, their skills and their career with our team.”
He adds that the purpose of their strict training is to equip the team with all the necessary tools to successfully operate their own Burger Road stores.
Anna says that Burger Road is on track to expand into Queensland, South Australia, and New South Wales. She says:
“Now that our stores are established and running strong in Melbourne, we want to expand further into franchising. We aim to open at least one corporate store in each state by 2023 and begin franchising.”
She adds that as part of interstate expansion assessment of suitable locations on the Sunshine Coast, Adelaide, Sydney, and Albury is underway.
The growth of Burger Road as a brand, according to Anna and Ishu, is driven by the success of their existing franchisees. Anna says that one franchisee has two sites and another one is also planning to open at an additional location. She adds:
“We encourage and aim for our franchisees to own multiple stores, as it’s beneficial for the entire Burger Road brand.”
Further, Anna and Ishu credit their success to focus on maintaining quality which is led by their signature Wagyu beef burgers of 100 per cent organic and premium grass-fed beef. Ishu says that Burger Road also has plant-based options and the chain uses and will continue to use, despite inflation, only fresh produce from local suppliers to ensure consistency and happiness of its customer base.
