Paul Griffin started out as a fine-dining chef, working his way through trendy restaurants with world-class chefs. But when he was working at a hip gastropub in Delray Beach, Fla., it seemed that all his customers wanted was his $20 all-natural burgers.
“We were kind of shocked by the product mix,” he said. If customers weren’t interested in the lobster nachos and duck and other fun items and just wanted burgers, why not just make them?
And so BurgerFi was born, serving all-natural beef and other items with clean labels.
Griffin helped start the chain, where he holds the title of chief culinary officer, which has grown to around 120 units and just celebrated its 10th anniversary with a shake limited-time offer.
His job changed from developing new menu items at the gastropub to training crew as new restaurants opened and handling a supply chain that has grown to $40 million worth of food & beverage annually.
In this podcast he discusses how that supply chain was challenged over the past year – it turns out that buying all-natural beef shielded him from some of the supply-chain disruptions many other burger chains faced — some of the LTOs he has developed over the years, and how he and his team are adapting to drive-thrus, ghost kitchens and other necessities of the current age.
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