FROM humble beginnings in his home kitchen to establishing a store in Adelaide’s prime dining hub Prospect, the sky is the limit for Stax Burger Co owner Zaynn Bird.
Currently in the northern Adelaide suburb fitting out his second shopfront, Mr Bird yesterday revealed further plans to expand into Western Australia next year.
It has been over two years since Stax Burger Co opened its prominent site at the Mount Gambier Marketplace, with Mr Bird looking forward to opening the doors to the Prospect store on August 1.
Mr Bird said he had signed a contract with Western Australian investors committing him to opening a third store in the state by December 2021.
Getting the keys to the Adelaide store yesterday, the young entrepreneur hoped to one day have a Stax Burger Co store in each capital city.
“The Adelaide shop had been abandoned and it is quite fit out so we are planning to modify the kitchen and redesign the aesthetic of the dining room,” Ms Bird said.
“We want to be known for our fitouts in the stores and how our shops look and I am excited to show everyone what we can do with that.”
The Mount Gambier store opened in November 2017, a big step forward for Mr Bird who started cooking burgers in his home kitchen.
Demand soon rose and Mr Bird started using the canteen kitchen at West Gambier Football Netball Club before launching into the Stax brand.
“I then started a social media presence and had a heap of positive reviews,” Mr Bird said.
“It was simple then people could order either through social media or through the phone I had set up for it.”
Before opening the Mount Gambier store Mr Bird had never cooked in a commercial kitchen and was met with unprecedented demand.
“In the first week we made 1200 burgers,” he said.
“It was surreal and was quite the push.”
Despite the early success, Mr Bird said it was a struggle to get his business off the ground in the early days, stating he was ready to give up just six months in.
“I thought I could not make it happen but then came back to it and kept at it,” he said.
Mr Bird said a new menu would be launched at the Adelaide shopfront, which may be introduced in Mount Gambier in the future.
