Mount Pleasant Magazine 6.4

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145
ChangingTheWay
People Eat Burgers
BurgerFi
Where can you find an
eatery that looks like an upbeat
burger joint but serves food
reminiscent of a gourmet
restaurant? Is it possible to treat
your taste buds to a delicious meal without worrying
about how a cheeseburger and
an order of fries will affect your
health and well-being?
For an answer to these questions, look no further than
the ground floor of The Boulevard, the home of BurgerFi
since the end of May.
“It’s a burger joint you can feel
good about eating at,” said Chuck
Jenkins, who, along with Tony
Tonelis, owns BurgerFi’s tri-county
franchise rights. “It’s a great tasting
burger that doesn’t have to be bad
for you.”
What makes BurgerFi different
from other similar restaurants?
According to Jenkins, everything,
from the burgers and hot dogs to
the fries and onion rings and the
company’s secret sauce, is 100-percent natural, prepared
daily and never frozen. And the beef served at all
BurgerFi locations comes from a Wyoming ranch where
the animals are raised without steroids or hormones.
The first BurgerFi opened in February 2011 in
Lauderdale-By-The-Sea, Florida. Not long after, Jenkins,
a pharmaceutical executive, was in the Sunshine State
and noticed something interesting about the company’s
Winter Park store.
“It was 2:30 in the afternoon and there was a line out
the door,” he remembered.
That experience was enough to maintain his interest
in BurgerFi, and, eventually, he purchased the franchise
rights in Charleston, Berkeley and Dorchester counties.
According to Steve Lieber, the company’s global brand
ambassador, BurgerFi recently opened its 90th restaurant.
There are two locations outside the United States – in
Mexico City – but others will open soon in Kuwait, the
United Kingdom and Panama.
BurgerFi’s efforts to protect the environment extend
beyond its all-natural menu. Cooking oil, cardboard,
plastic and glass are recycled, and even the furniture,
which seats around 140 people inside and another 50 on
the patio, is made of recycled material.
The menu includes several angus burgers, as well as
vegetarian burgers, three different types of hot dogs,
hand-cut fries with a variety of toppings, onion rings
and custard-based shakes, floats, concretes and sundaes.
You can have the veggie burger “green style,” wrapped
in lettuce instead of a bun. Or, if you just can’t make up
your mind, you can go with the Conflicted Burger –
two patties, one beef and the other vegetarian.
In addition, there’s wine and craft
beer, most of it from local breweries,
and a Coke Freestyle Machine,
which lets diners mix and
match potentially hundreds of
different soft drink flavors.
For Jenkins and his
wife, Sara, owning a burger
restaurant is not all about making money. He said 10
percent of the restaurant’s proceeds will go to support a
ministry they are starting that provides help and support
for children aging out of the foster care system.
“We want to help young men and women
transitioning out of foster care during those critical ages
of 18 to 25. It’s something that’s needed,” he said.
And what’s the origin of the name BurgerFi?
“It stands for the burgerfication of the nation,” Lieber
explained. “We wanted to change the way people eat
hamburgers.”
BurgerFi is located at 735 Coleman Blvd. Parking is
available in front of the restaurant, on the first floor of the
Boulevard garage and in an overflow lot. To learn more,
visit or call 843-884-6445.
By Brian Sherman
In GoodTaste
| |
Photo courtesy of BurgerFi.