Gourmet burger restaurant celebrates one year

By Rienaia Toleafoa 18 October 2019, 10:00AM

Samoa’s first gourmet burger restaurant has celebrated its one year anniversary.

Phat Burger, located on Apia’s famous Beach Road strip was initially established just over a year ago as a part of Cocktails on the Rocks.

But owners, couple Kelly Walker and Kylie Stephen Fauchelle, decided to take it up a notch to provide Samoa’s only gourmet burger eatery. 

The concept by the couple – who have both clocked over 20 years in the hospitality industry – gave birth to Phat Burger.

When the restaurant opened in October last year, it had over 15 different kinds of burgers on the menu. These included the celebrity-inspired Spongebob Squarepants burger.

A year on it is still a challenge wooing customers to try out their gourmet burger menu.

Mr. Fauchelle said getting recognition as a business that offers a unique culinary experience continues to be a hurdle. 

“We started as Phat Burger a year ago and still people don’t know where we are, who we are and what we do,” he said.

All their burgers are made with fresh produce and local ingredients which are of good quality.  

“People think that our burgers are unhealthy but there are no additives in our buns, there’s no sugar in our patties. We are just a local Samoan beef,” he said.

The strength of the restaurant has also been their staff whom the couple described as being very attentive to their customers.

“We’ve got great staff. It started off with just me and my partner Kelly Walker, and then as we got busier, we realised we needed to have some staff. We’ve employed five awesome staff members who work for us now,” he said.

But what makes their burgers different from that offered by other eateries and restaurants in Apia? 

Mr. Fauchelle said they have the biggest burgers in Samoa called the ‘Big Uso’ which has got close to half a kilo of beef.

Everything is freshly cooked and locally sourced with lower glycemic index (G.I.) in the food, which he said is why the burgers are juicy in flavor and size and will keep the customer satisfied.

“Our burgers may seem pricey at $20 or most expensive which is at $40, but they will surely fill you up as we make everything ourselves,” he says.

By Rienaia Toleafoa 18 October 2019, 10:00AM
Samoa Observer

Upgrade to Premium

Subscribe to
Samoa Observer Online

Enjoy unlimited access to all our articles on any device + free trial to e-Edition. You can cancel anytime.

>