Not many people can say they created one of the best burgers in the world on their back garden grill, but The Beefy Boys of Hereford have enjoyed meteoric success after doing precisely that.
The team of four friends, who worked as DJs, a gas engineer and a runner for ITV’s Cash in the Attic before following their passion project, entered the World Food Championship in Las Vegas after being crowned champions of a BBQ competition called Grillstock in the UK.
After coming 2nd in the world for Best Burger in the US, they gambled their winnings on the roulette wheel and used the proceeds to set up a burger empire across the West Country.
And the rest, as they say, is history.
“It’s a drunken barbecue really that has got seriously out of hand”, Anthony ‘Murf’ Murphy told The London Economic during an interview for The Big Switch.
After news reached home of their success in Vegas, their pop-up in Hereford, which was used to seeing 20 or so people turn up, was swamped by 500-600 hungry folks eager to taste their wares, often willing to wait up to two hours to try a burger.
In 2015, they turned their hobby into a business and threw open the doors to their first restaurant, which before long was expanded into the building next door to double the capacity due to demand.
Not long after that, they purchased a food truck to tour across the country, opening restaurant number two in Shrewsbury in 2023 and number three in Cheltenham in 2023.
Asked what advice they would give aspiring entrepreneurs, they said: “If you truly believe it’s going to work, then just go for it”, adding that you will often need to blag to win.
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