[BigMouth]

We sell lots of burgers. Unfortunately, the plant our distributor (US Foods) got the burgers from blew up awhile back and we haven't been able to get another quality burger since.
So, my question is does anybody have any suggestions on where to get quality 80/20 burgers from?

Furthermore, what is the opinion on making our own burgers? Cost involved (obviously labor plus ground beef cost)?

[Psychlone]

If you're in Utah, Nicholas and Company sell a quality 19/81 burger that's been very good to us. The pack size is 10/8# tubes and comes in fresh...ready to portion and freeze, or just freeze the entire box and pull as needed.

Failing that, Sysco also has a good 19/81 burger that has a smaller pack size of 6/4#...

I've personally found that a little extra burger and a little less fat just makes a better burger in my opinion, but I'm sure you've got your own tastes and so do your customers.

As for making your own, I've got some experience with that as well. We have a 60Qt. Hobart mixer with the attachments for the grinder...let me tell you that a single blade for that thing is over $80, let alone the unnecessary wear and tear on the transmission on the machine itself. But, you may have an actual grinder that would make it alot easier, but then you have consistency to contend with.
Everyone on your staff is going to have to make it the same exact way, and that may or may not be a problem, as long as you have a standardized recipe and ensure that there's accountability for following the recipe, there won't be a problem like that at all.

Then you have labor. No one but you can tell you what it's going to cost in labor dollars, but you've also got to factor in your standard overhead as well - that grinder is going to take electricity, your workers are surely covered under worker's comp - so there's another bit to portion in, along with all your variable overhead...it's not as simple as purchasing 20 pounds of chuck and 22 pounds of fat, then grinding it up and forming it...you've got to take a lot more into consideration than that - but I'm sure you already know this having been in this business for long enough to consider doing it yourself.

I can't remember who we used to purchase them from, but there's a company that sells "Cloud" brand (I believe, it's been many, many years) that makes one of the best pre-formed burgers I've ever had. We used to use their 2:1 and they were wonderful! They came frozen, pre-formed and boxed, ready to go. The form wasn't round like most burgers, they had several 'edges' (for lack of a better term) that made them appear hand formed. - May want to check into those, as they really were a really good burger, and the best part - there's NO LABOR at all involved in opening a box and cooking off pre-formed burgers! Effectively, you've saved yourself the cost of 1 employee.

Good luck!

Psychlone

[BigMouth]

Thanks for your help. I understand that the 'best' way to make a burger would be to grind the meat and form the patties, but I was thinking more just purchasing ground beef, seasoning it, and forming the patties. We sell about 3500 1/3# burger patties a week and to be honest we just can't find a good burger anymore. We have had 5 companies and 20 samples in and none of them compare to our old burger. That is why I'm considering making (not grinding) our patties in house, but I want the process to be very efficient and streamlined.

[StopIn]

We are known for our hamburgers. We have several sizes of burgers from 2 oz. to 16 oz. and we make each of them by hand. We use the 73/27 blend that Sysco sells, it is fresh. It comes in 10lb tubes, 40 lbs./ cs. We usually pay appox. $1.53/lb. Most of the burgers we sell are the 5 oz. burgers.

Most will say the blend is to high in fat. We don't think so, when the burger is grilled, and we use a flat top not a char-broiler. the fat will cook out and because of the fat content it makes a juicier burger.