If you haven’t seen local personalities doing a happy dance after succulent bites on Insta stories or caught Burger Eats at myriad market days, expos and events, you haven’t been paying attention. Burger Eats has been busy.
A local outfit and the burger child of entrepreneur Helen Ngodji, Burger Eats is a delivery-based company zipping custom single, double and triple patty burgers across the city.
On a Saturday afternoon, our order from a selection that includes a breakfast burger, hake fillet burger with cheese as well as a chicken burger with pineapple is three bacon cheeseburgers, one bacon burger and four skinny fries.
Happily, the wait is just under an hour and the burgers live up to the hype.
Less happily, the service includes confirming the order three separate times via call then a text then another call as a child cries in the background. It also involves a rude driver who asks if I’m at Jokers (I live nowhere near it and gave detailed directions) then arrives maskless, without gloves and says “you don’t have to be so tough” when I call him out on it amidst a freaking pandemic.
In a classic case of a brand’s staff and/or associates doing a disservice to the product, the burgers are great but the ordering and delivery leave a lot to be desired.
Burger Eats’ catchphrase is “tastes just right” and as we dig into our hearty burgers and perfectly spiced skinny fries there are no real lies detected.
In fact, when Burger Eats gets their service delivery together, my opinion is that this brand could be a franchise, delivery and catering powerhouse because Ngodji knows and agrees that everybody loves a good burger.
“A home-made comfort meal always does it. People love anything easy to eat. Our burgers come with an array of sides and you get to build your own burger and that’s what appeals to people,” says Ngodji, whose burgers include a generous stack of juicy beef, melted cheese and a perfectly toasted sesame seed bun.
“We use 100% Namibian beef, veggies and buns that we stock weekly to maintain the freshness of our burgers. We don’t compromise on the quality and the health of our clients is key. It’s important that our clients get value for their money.”
To that end, a bacon burger with four cuts of bacon will set you back less than a movie ticket, the cost of extras such as gherkins, pineapple, cheese and fried egg are kept low while Wednesday and weekend specials as well as speciality burgers like ‘The Triple Threat’ are a solid spend.
“Namibians are meat lovers and because of that we came up with “The Triple Threat” – three beef patties and cheese. It’s currently our bestselling burger,” says Ngodji, who also offers two recommendations for first time Burger Eatsers.
“I recommend the Regular Burger, which is a toasted bun, one beef patty and fried onions just so one can taste the simplicity and freshness of our plain burger and, for the meat lovers, I’ll always recommend the Triple Threat.”
Currently partnering with Chommie Bites, Deliver-E-Windhoek and Bogota Transport, Burger Eats is determined to follow Covid-19 protocols such as sanitising, cashless payment as well as wearing masks and gloves when delivering food so people can get to the business of enjoying their food worry-free.
“Our slogan says ‘Tastes just right’. Our burgers are yummy from the first bite till the last bite. You’re able to taste every ingredient in it. We value all our clients and therefore timely delivery and the freshness of our burgers remain key performance areas for us.
“We are constantly working on strategies to improve these key performance areas for Burger Eats,” says Ngodji, who also offers a little advice to those keen to enter the food game.
“Entrepreneurship is in my DNA. I’ve always known that I’m passionate about being a Namibian businesswoman who is changing lives and contributing to economic growth. My advice to young entrepreneurs, especially women, is please just start. Just do it. We are the ones to change our own economic narrative for our country. Don’t ever give up – even if you make zero sales in a day or one week. Just re-strategise.”
