The popularity of gourmet burger joints has prompted the man who helped establish the Perth market to branch away from his initial venture.
Justin Bell, the man behind Jus Burgers, has opened a new restaurant in a bid to differentiate from the competition.
This time he’s hoping the sausages offered at Snags & Sons will prove just as popular as his reinvented burgers. In addition, he is taking his burger business interstate.
Mr Bell opened his first Jus Burgers shop in Leederville in January 2009. He followed two years later with stores in Subiaco, Northbridge and Fremantle and the business’ success led to it being named a 2011 winner of WA Business News’ Rising Stars Awards.
Mr Bell said the success of Jus Burgers was also proved by the rapid emergence of rival burger joints around the city. People are now overwhelmed with choice for burgers.
“Where they previously might have been driving through suburbs to come to you, now there’s a nearer burger bar in their own backyard,” he said.
While it was initially a form of flattery, Mr Bell said the market became so flooded he needed to do something different and, to his knowledge, no one was doing snags.
The new Leederville venue has the same focus on being fun and different, but Mr Bell said it was potentially more suited to the ‘grungier’ local crowd by being cheaper than Jus Burgers.
Mr Bell continues to run the four Jus Burger restaurants, and now the new Snags & Sons, with the help of an operations manager. This gives him the opportunity to spend time on the floor in each establishment.
He admits it’s a big job but there are no plans to grow Jus Burgers any more in Western Australia.
“Obviously, I can’t be in four places all at once … back in the day we had a model where we wanted three or four shops of Jus Burgers and that’s what we’ve achieved,” he said.
The business was started in Perth with the backing of two local investors. It’s the same partnerships which have enabled it to continue to grow and now open Snags & Sons.
Revenue for the current financial year is anticipated to be $6.8 million – more than double the $3.2 million turnover in the business’ first full financial year.
Staff numbers have continued to triple year on year and now more than 90 employees are on the payroll.
But achieving that employee base has not been without its challenges. Mr Bell has been feeling the same pressures of a tight labour market as others in WA and has been forced to look offshore for skilled chefs and bring them back to the state on 457 visas.
He said the expense of recruiting offshore was an investment, which he anticipated would pay off in the long term. Temporary employees were typically enthusiastic about gaining permanent residency and staying with the company.
And despite no plans for further grow in WA, Mr Bell’s burger fare will be on offer in Melbourne within a month.
He has established a joint venture with Perth coffee expert Corey Diamond, formerly of West Perth-based Epic Espresso, to open a shop in the prime shopping and dining Chapel Street precinct.
Mr Bell said the venture went against the grain of the typical east-to-west flow of hospitality influences.
“Historically, many Perth people go to Melbourne, get their ideas, come back here and replicate,” he said. “So going from WA to Victoria is quite a challenge, we feel though that we’ve got enough of a strong brand in WA to pull it off.”
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