“Working in finance was a great career but I love good food”

Burger & Sauce's newest franchisee for Walsall, Adil Hussain, on how he turned his passion into profit

In 2022, Burger & Sauce welcomed its newest franchise Adil Hussain, who recently opened his first restaurant in Walsall, Birmingham.

Adil had a complete career change, moving from banking to fast food when he joined Burger & Sauce as a franchisee, but he had always dreamed of running his own chain of restaurants.

He explains: “I always wanted to work for myself. Working in finance was a great career but I love good food! My family are into food too! My father is a caterer, and my brother works in the industry, so I was just looking for the right opportunity to turn my passion into profit.

“The Burger & Sauce brand is popular in Birmingham, and I was impressed with the fresh, fast-food experience which is all delivered as a value-for-money package for customers. I saw the vision of what could be and spoke to Burger & Sauce’s founder Saad Masood to make it happen!”

Behind the scenes

Much work went on behind the scenes with Adil spending a couple of months training in another Burger & Sauce restaurant while the Walsall outlet took shape. Burger & Sauce took care of all the shop fit out and marketing.

“Suddenly it was time for launch,” says Adil. “For our opening weekend, we ran some special offers and customers were ordering 5-7 burgers at a time to take home for their families. It was incredible! The new team were great and responded to how hectic the store was. We ensured they were all trained for a couple of weeks beforehand in other Burger & Sauce restaurants nearby so they could hit the ground running, but we could never have been truly prepared for how busy it was!

“The technology we have in-store really helped coping with the volume of orders. Everything is as automated as it can be, delivering instructions electronically to each workstation which makes it easy for staff to fulfil the orders with minimal fuss and no shouting across the kitchen!

“The new store has created a huge hype in Walsall, where previously customers would need to travel to Birmingham to buy a decent burger. We’ve only been open a couple of weeks but are already seeing repeat customers returning for more!”

The day-to-day

Adil’s day-to-day role as a franchisee is currently all about managing the store. He is involved in admin and staff training and general management. He explains: “I might be organising the rota, recruiting for more staff, resolving any minor customer issues and generally ensuring everything runs smoothly.

“I live less than 20 minutes away so I’m currently hands-on in-store every day, but this role will evolve as the Walsall branch becomes more established. Eventually, I plan to open in additional locations, but I want to make sure the team have those solid foundations in place before expansion with new stores takes over.”

Teamwork makes the dream work Recruitment can be an issue in the food trade; however, Adil has seen a lot of interest in the roles available. He confirms: “Recruitment never stops in fast food. That said, people are walking in asking for jobs! It’s a fun place to work and we offer good training. Our systems are designed for staff to make their lives easy, and our menu is compact too. This means there’s never too much to learn. Within two weeks any new team member will have everything mastered and so we can be super-efficient with orders and staff are happy as they understand exactly what is required. “Part of my role is also to keep the team motivated. We have team meetings or one-to-one chats every day and usually, this is just to give a pat on the back and say: ‘well done you are doing a great job’. I think appreciating and valuing staff is so important, as teamwork literally makes the dream work!”

Path to success

Burger & Sauce has spent considerable time honing processes to ensure franchisees can follow a successful, proven system. Adil says: “We have an operating manual which is like a booklet with everything we need contained inside. Just follow the manual, ensure a quality product at good value and customers will turn up. It’s that easy!”

Burger & Sauce ensures the quality and freshness of its burgers with regular deliveries. Adil confirms: “We have fresh meat delivered three to four times per week and other regular supplies weekly. I work closely with my store manager to keep an eye on the numbers and ensure we don’t over order, so ingredients are always fresh.”

The freshness of the burgers, all made to order is certainly proving popular in Walsall. It means Adil can already start thinking of the future. He says: “Once Walsall is a little more established, my goal is to open more Burger & Sauce outlets one at a time. I anticipate Walsall will be the first of many!”