Award-winning gourmet burger truck business set to take part in historic cooking showdown
An award-winning gourmet burger truck business in Northampton is set to take part in a historic cooking showdown next week.
The organisers of the National Burger Awards have announced a huge, one-off competition in honour of the event’s 10-year anniversary.
Next Tuesday (September 3), 30 previous winners and chefs will gather in London to compete in the ‘Champion of Champions’ to see which signature burger will take the top spot.
One of those is Northampton’s very own The Flavour Trailer, set up in April 2018 by partners Mario Shephard and Charley Cummings.
Over the past decade, the annual event has crowned winners across three categories each year – plant-based burger, burger chef and national burger of the year.
Unlike the traditional awards format, the upcoming cook-off will revolve solely around the signature burgers from each venue and everything hinges on just one recipe.
It was at the start of 2023 when The Flavour Trailer saw success at the National Burger Awards, when they won the best vegan burger title and Mario was named the third best chef.
He and Charley spent eight years honing their chef skills across Europe before setting up the business six years ago, with the aim of revolutionising the way people enjoy takeaways.
Mario described the national recognition as “mental and really overwhelming” when he spoke to the Chronicle & Echo at the time, and said it was a “validating experience”.
The burger chef often competes against those who inspired him and Charley to start the business in the first place.
It was earlier this year when The Flavour Trailer received a “crazy” response to the opening of their first restaurant in the town.
With multiple food trucks across the county and having cracked the market, the team took the next step to open the venue in March after months of hard work.
Located in Staveley Way in Brixworth, the aim was to create a space for people to come and enjoy being part of a burger-loving community.
The restaurant seats 50 visitors, is open plan and located inside a warehouse – described as an “unorthodox” location by the co-founder.
It is a burger restaurant with a contemporary vibe and has an open plan kitchen for customers to watch the chefs hard at work.