Adapting to the cost of living crisis: How Burgertory is revamping its menu to provide more value

The burger chain introduced meal deals to its menu, a first for the brand.

Having consumers spend less but buy more is the overarching strategy of Burgertory to attract customers to their brand as consumers pull back on discretionary spending due factors such as the recent rate hikes and higher cost of living

“For example, historically, we haven’t had meal deals on our menu because we didn’t have to. We used to sell our sides and our burgers separately. What we have done now is put together a meal deal for people so that their average ticket price is actually lower. They’re spending less but buying more,” Hasheam Tayeh, Burgertory CEO said.

In a chat with QSR Media, Hash said one of the effects of the cost of living crisis is that more customers are going for more value proposition items. As a gourmet burger chain, this is a major challenge for them.

“What we had to do is we’ve had to quickly pivot our menu to give more value back to our customers because the average customers that come through the store are actually dropping across the hospitality industry,” Hash said.

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According to Hash, compared to last year’s sales, their sales this year have started to plateau and even come down a little because of the economic downturn. But does value mean keeping prices down for customers?

Hash said he doesn’t believe in lowering prices so what they did was introduced new ways to increase the value of their menu offerings.

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Burgertory’s exclusive Lunch Deal comes with a choice of its popular burgers - the Joel Burger or Remiel Burger for $15 and Pride Burger or Lust Burger for $18. Each lunch deal includes fries and a 300ml bottle of Pepsi, providing customers with a 25% savings compared to opting out of a combo. Burgertory is also planning to release a budget burger range in the near future.

Collaborations

As a gourmet burger brand, getting creative with its menu offerings is a must for Burgertory. In fact, when Pepsi partnered with Burgertory to launch its Tastes Better’ campaign, they were given the challenge to create something more than just including Pepsi products with their meals.

Burgertory is an exclusive partner of PepsiCo for Pepsi Max.

The collaboration called for something more unique and special than just adding Pepsi as a drink option. So they opted to create a burger that has the taste of Pepsi in it.

And how they did it was to mix their own secret burger sauce with just the right amount of Pepsi to create the new Pepsi Max range that comes in both beef and chicken patties.
 
“So now when you eat any of those burgers or sides and you take a bite, you get that very unique Pepsi Max tastes,” Hash said.

For the Pepsi Max Chicken Burger, both the top and bottom buns are drenched with the secret Pepsi-inspired sauce. Sandwiched between these buns is a grilled pineapple sliced and a perfectly crumbed and fried chicken. Meanwhile what differentiates the Pepsi Max Beef Burger, is that it has jalapenos and caramelised onions, and bacon as well as the secret sauce.

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For Hash, these collaborations are very important and often undervalued in the QSR industry. He said that it's very important to collaborate with other brands that complement what you're doing. 

These collaborations are also two-way streets when it comes to connecting with customers. 

“If you look at PepsiCo as a platform, and then you look at our platform, we might have 25,000 followers, but they've got hundreds of thousands of followers, so we're able to leverage off their customer base and drive them into our stores. But also, they've got the opportunity now to convert our customers to Pepsi rather than their competitors,” Hash said.

Acquisition and expansion

Currently, Burgertory has 22 stores. The brand is under the QSR Collective group, a food and beverage company based in Victoria that owns brands like The Bean Lab, a kiosk-coffee brand, The Fresh Prince a cafe and bar, and pizza and pasta restaurant Mipasto.

“We've just started franchising, and like what I told you before, we've now got six franchisees, which is extremely exciting. And we've got another six coming on board to open before the end of the year,” Hash said.

Burgertory also has an upcoming collaboration with a dessert brand that has a cult following in Sydney and Queensland which Hash said will be announced in the near future

Hash said they are still hard at work in reaching their goal of 50 stores before the end of 2023. Hash also hinted that they are in talks in acquiring another brand which will give them a stronger presence in New South Wales however he said it is too early to say anything more at the moment.

“We're working on growing our franchise base. So even though it's been a tough year, for the hospitality industry, we're determined to pivot back through the economic slowdown to solidify our position as the leader in the quick-service restaurant industry,” Hash said.