[dave s]

Hi folks, I am looking for some advice on purchasing ground beef for burgers. 

I am moving to a brick and mortar from a food truck. The food truck was part time for us and we bought our ground beef at Costco for that day - for service in the evening. 

For a 7 days per week operation, wondering how Chef's handle ground beef for burgers. Wrap patties for only a couple days worth?  Buy fresh daily, or get delivery every 2nd day? Keep bulk ground beef, and make patties for just the day?

Grind fresh daily? Not sure if that's feasible, but a possibility. 

I searched around the site, couldn't find anything specific. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

 

[chefbuba]

I have a burger truck. I buy fresh ground 80/20 chuck every day and spank out patties. If I run out, it's closing time.

The grind from my Costco sucks for burgers, it is too fine and "loose" it did not make a good burger.

A two day old patty does not cook up or taste the same as a fresh one. Most people wouldn't know the difference but some do and that is what will make your burger stand out. I charbroil everything.

Toast your buns, nothing worse than a soggy bun. Use fresh produce and don't skimp. I put 10-12 pickle chips on a burger, a thick slice of ripe tomato, a heap of shredded iceberg and a good amount of very thin sliced onion. Sauce top and bottom and a squirt of shitty yellow mustard.

Makes for a good drip down your arm burger. Hand cut fries are a good thing too.

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[someday]

How much staff will you have? What type of storage? What type of equipment? 

Grinding fresh would be the best way. Not really TOO time consuming, might take someone (depending on volume) an hour or two to grind. 

You might look into a vacuum sealer to preserve your ground meat. I would stay away from vacuuming your patties though, it can compress the meat and make the texture too dense for a great burger (IMO). 

Your trick is going to be not getting too far ahead of things. You don't want 2-3 day old patties hanging out. 

A little more info might help us out. 

 

[dave s]

Thanks for the replies guys! 

This new place we are opening, we forecast about 50-100 covers per day. We are thinking that grinding fresh will be the way to go.  Probably grind 50% chuck, 25% brisket and 25% short rib. But will certainly fine tune the ratios before opening. 

The Costco ground beef was petty lean. So we are going to shoot for 80-20.

ChefBubba, those burgers look awesome! What kind of buns are you using? I'm planning on having a local baker make us a Brioche style bun. 

 

[dave s]

Oh and Someday, yes we plan on having a vacuum sealer as well. Great tip! And thanks for the advice. 

 

[cstanford]

Hi folks, I am looking for some advice on purchasing ground beef for burgers.

I am moving to a brick and mortar from a food truck. The food truck was part time for us and we bought our ground beef at Costco for that day - for service in the evening.

For a 7 days per week operation, wondering how Chef's handle ground beef for burgers. Wrap patties for only a couple days worth? Buy fresh daily, or get delivery every 2nd day? Keep bulk ground beef, and make patties for just the day?

Grind fresh daily? Not sure if that's feasible, but a possibility.

I searched around the site, couldn't find anything specific. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

Grind it yourself from quality cuts and charge accordingly. Anything less is just another burger. Where's the accomplishment/craftsmanship/creativity in that?

 

[someday]

Grind it yourself from quality cuts and charge accordingly. Anything less is just another burger. Where's the accomplishment/craftsmanship/creativity in that?

I dunno, lol. If you buy good ground beef, season it well, fresh veg, use a good bun, and cook it right...you'd probably beat like 90% of other burgers out there. There are TONS of shit burgers out there. Sometimes it feels like just making a DECENT burger is a pretty big accomplishment.

 

[dave s]

Grind it yourself from quality cuts and charge accordingly. Anything less is just another burger. Where's the accomplishment/craftsmanship/creativity in that?

Heck yes to that. We plan to do everything else from scratch and getting buns made by a local baker - so it makes sense to come up with our own ground blend.

Ground fresh is a good selling point and could justify another dollar or 2

 

[matrixx]

Hello guys,

I'm planning to make burgers, When grinding the burgers, should I use the big holes plate in my grinder unit or the finer one? Do we need to add bread crumbs and eggs just bind the burger so that it will have a body and certain texture to bite it? How do we attain that certain texture and beefy taste flavor in a burger once cooked?