With summer coming, appetites are quickly turning towards the king of the grill: the burger. Whether they are being served on a sunny patio, in a slick gastropub, the local bar, a high-end restaurant, or a barbecue, burgers are everywhere. Both a timeless classic and a blank slate for fun and flavour, customers cannot get enough of them, and clever chefs can turn a profit if they use this summer staple to their advantage. Especially if that burger is topped with cheese—the secret to an irresistible bite.

Just ask Toronto's biggest burger aficionado, Chef Joe Friday. We spoke to Chef Joe to get his best tips and tricks for the burger business—and which Saputo cheeses he relies on to keep his customers coming back for more. 

Why do cheeseburgers continue to be popular on menus?

A cheeseburger is the ultimate meal. You have bread, lettuce, tomato… And then you have the beef. That beef right there—sings. That is the reason you get it. And the crown jewel on any burger is cheese!

Cheese is integral to my burger and my love for burgers. It adds creaminess, flavour, and texture. You know when you get to the last bite? The cheese has solidified a bit, it is not so melty and it has more of a bite? That, to me, is one of the best bites of the burger. 

How can chefs continue to elevate cheeseburgers?

There are a bunch of ways to look at elevating your product. I keep up with different innovations in the industry to make the customer experience more pleasant and desirable.

Building the perfect burger also takes research. This cannot be done overnight. You have to know what you like. You must really trust the process you are going to go through to make your burger. And once you put it on the menu, that trust has to turn into complete belief. 

What burger was a hit in the industry over the past few years? What will the next trendy burger be?

Folk tales say the first burger was a smash burger—the cook was in a rush and smashed a burger to cook it faster. Now, the smash burger is popular again. There are tons of people who are trying to do what others are doing. Really, I think there is room for everybody. It is about understanding business and not just creativity.

I know the next trend is going to be tavern-style burgers. High-quality meat and ingredients, cooked like a pan-seared steak on a bun. I use a short rib, dry-aged beef, and ribeye. You could go anywhere with that, right? 

You could use a higher-end blue cheese, with an onion or bacon jam. You could choose a Saputo Pizza Mozzarella cheese with a really good melt ratio. You could even choose a grilling cheese, like Haloumi. There are endless possibilities.

I think those will become the trend—but that burger is not going to be cheap. That is a 35-dollar burger—almost as much as you would charge for a steak.

Do you think limited-time offers and trending burgers drive traffic to restaurants? Does this increase the restaurant’s profitability?

Specials can definitely drive profitability! I like features and things that offer something different—but customers enjoy something with staying power.

When you open a burger place, your regular customers get comfortable. Every time they come, they order the same burger—the same double cheeseburger or the Friday burger, the coleslaw, or the Carolina burger. It took about three months for the Carolina burger to catch on. That is because people like comfort and eat what they trust.

My strategy is putting a burger on the menu as a special, trying it for a week and then adding it for another week. That gives you time to educate your customers on what to expect, and the product will sell better.

How is social media influencing customers’ demands, and how does that translate to your menu and the industry as a whole?

Social media is really helpful. It is about storytelling. People want to know the origins and reasons behind things. So educating people is important—and this is all done on social media. 

You can post something to get five hundred views—that is five hundred people you can sell your story to. Social media can bring your product or brand in front of someone—but you cannot go into it expecting to make money. You have to go in expecting brand awareness. Once you get brand awareness, you are going to make the money. 

You can try things to get people’s attention. For instance, adding cheese to a product that does not normally have cheese could be huge. Let’s say I have a popular lobster burger. I am going to add brie cheese to this lobster burger—but I never have before. Could that make people curious enough to want to taste it? I think so.

What are the top 3 tips you would give to other chefs when creating a new burger?

Number one: be true to yourself. I am from the South and I have a lot of Japanese training. There is a combination of both in my burgers.

Number two: understand and respect the classics. Burgers were food for the working class. The people who built America had this first. They were hanging on for dear life to build some of the amazing buildings you see in New York. They were nurses, they were doctors. So, respect the history, not just the actual food, but the people too. 

Number three: research. Eat burgers, make them, and experiment. You know, use charcoal or wood, a flat top, or a grill.

What about your top tips for preparing burgers? 

Treat it like a steak—let it rest. No one wants a burger that oozes everywhere. Use quality ingredients. There are only three vegetables that are typically on a burger—lettuce, tomato, and onion. So, you need quality vegetables, right? Quality beef and—the most important—Saputo cheese.

What are your top 5 Saputo cheeses for your burgers?

That is so hard to choose. Saputo provides so many versatile cheeses for the burger world!

Just recently, I have been using Swiss cheese. The way it melts and the creaminess of it is unique. It has that nice mild cheese flavour with the gooeyness that you want. When you look at a burger, you want to see the cheese ooze down. That is really amazing. 

Saputo has Météorite—an ash-covered brie cheese with blue veins—that I really like. I tried it on my peppercorn black and blue burger, and it really stood out. Some blue cheeses are very stiff, but this cheese has a really good melt ratio. It covers the burger really well.

When I make a Caprese burger, I reach for the Fior di Latte. There are so many different applications. Rapid fire, though? My favourites are probably Brie, Swiss, Processed, Cheddar, and Haloumi.

How does Saputo cheese compare to other cheese on the market?

Saputo is the elite of the elite when it comes to cheeses. They offer so many different styles and everything they have is quality. I go back to the saying—what is really important as a chef is the quality of your ingredients.

Prices are going up right now. Burgers are becoming a luxury item. If you are going to be on the upper echelons of price points, make sure you deliver on the quality. Make sure the customer understands why it is worth it for them to spend that extra hard-earned money on your product. Saputo cheese is of extreme quality. You do not have to worry about the type of product that you are going to get. There is no question.

THE FINAL BITE 

Simple or elevated, smash or tavern-style—burgers are a restaurant staple that continues to draw in hungry customers, especially over the summer months. And the secret ingredient to really take your burger over the top is choosing top-quality cheese. 

A great cheese is the key to creating eye-catching viral burgers, reliable and delicious menu staples that attract customers and keep them returning again and again. Saputo offers a wide variety of cheeses to meet the needs of any restaurant’s menu—and your creativity.

From the famous Pizza Mozzarella, to Swiss, to Process Cheddar Cheese Ribbon Slices—there are tons of options to choose from. How delicious can you get?

Why not take Chef Joe’s Cheeseburger Challenge? Create an innovative and delicious cheeseburger using Saputo cheeses, post your creation on social media, tag us (@saputo_foodservice), and let us be part of your cheeseburger social buzz.

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