Award-winning cult burger brand shares recipe for business growth

Beefy Boys, Left to Right – Lee Symonds, Anthony ‘Murf’ Murphy, Dan Mayo-Evans and Christian Williams

Regional cult burger brand, The Beefy Boys, are certainly the ones to watch as their business expansion has seen them open their third restaurant in well-known foodie destination Cheltenham, alongside not one, but two national awards.

The Beefy Boys was formed back in 2011 by four burger-loving childhood friends, who launched their flagship restaurant in The Old Market in Hereford in 2016, after investing their winnings from coming second place in the World’s Best Burger competition at the World Food Championship in Las Vegas the previous year.

Their second restaurant, located in Shrewsbury, followed in 2021, making the Cheltenham premises The Beefy Boys’ third restaurant opening in seven years, alongside their popular food van which regularly visits special events and locations across the West Midlands and South West. The newest restaurant launch coincided with two landmark wins at the acclaimed 2023 National Burger Awards, including Best Burger and Best Burger Chef of The Year, awarded to founder Anthony ‘Murf’ Murphy.

The Cheltenham restaurant, on the former site of national chain Bill’s, was transformed earlier this year into a burger-lover’s paradise, instantly recognisable by The Beefy Boys’ fans. It accommodates up to 160 diners and features a brand-new downstairs bar. Co-founder Anthony ‘Murf’ Murphy commented: “We had been looking for a few years to locate the best site for our third venture and Cheltenham and Gloucester were key destinations. When the Regent Street venue was being vacated by Bill’s, we spotted an opportunity to secure a prime Cheltenham location."

Bill’s departure from the regency town left a team of 35 skilled hospitality staff unemployed, whom The Beefy Boys were happy to offer new positions on their team. They began training the new recruits in the signature Beefy Boys ‘way’ at their Hereford branch, whilst a team of skilled local contractors got to work on both the new restaurant interior and kitchen upgrades.

The complete refurbishment and training process took almost 8 weeks, and by the middle of February this year the Cheltenham restaurant was ready to open its doors. Much to the delight of The Beefy Boys the eatery has been jam-packed since its launch, with diners booking weeks in advance to secure a table, and taste the UK’s best burger, The Oklahoma Boy.

The mammoth task of managing the ongoing business expansion, including an investment of over £300,000 in the new site, is one that is equally spread across the four Beefy Boys partners. Each founder has a defined role and area of expertise; Anthony ‘Murf’ Murphy focuses on food, marketing and the overall brand direction, Christian Williams manages logistics, facilities and finance, Dan Mayo-Evans runs the kitchen across the three sites, and Lee Symonds is in charge of events, content, and DIY burger boxes.

Murf added: “We are always eyeing growth but our focus remains on ensuring that we maintain the high-quality that we have come to be known for. So with that our goal for the foreseeable future is making sure we keep our high-standards up across all three restaurants, along and our events company.

It’s been a mad ride getting to where we are, and there are many challenges for hospitality businesses at the moment, but it’s never boring. We stand with the rest of the industry in hoping that the government will do more to support our sector, as it’s been an extremely hostile environment to run a food orientated business since the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rising costs have really hit the industry hard with prices rising almost weekly. We've seen our energy bills triple and there is a huge labour shortage in the market - there's so many things we would like to do but at times what stops us is having the staff to do it. That said, we are ‘hungry’ to take the Beefy Boys to a national level!”

To follow the brands progress visit thebeefyboys.com

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