Uptown move has Downtown Burgers back in business

Downtown Burgers owner Cam Scott ... Coincidentally the new location is in the same building that was the home of his original bar and eatery, “Nook and Cranny”, from 2015-17.

A year after water damage from a heavy downpour and leaking roof forced him out of his old building, Downtown Burgers owner Cam Scott is almost glad he had to make the massive change. 

“The situation was terrible but we were at a point there anyway in the business where we couldn’t do anything else,” he said. “We had a small kitchen, small dining space and our cold rooms were down the back. We were struggling for space. So, once I got over all the ‘this isn’t fair’ negative self-talk and started thinking ‘how can we make this better’ then it got exciting.”

So Cam decided to move just up the road to 113 Currie Street and rebuild the popular burger bar in bigger premises that offer more streamlined service possibilites.

“At the end of the day we feel we have taken what was a negative and turned it into a really big positive,” he said.  

“The kitchen is three times the size and ergonomically designed” he said. “So we can pump out food really quickly now. And we have more room to prep so it just helps the whole business become so much more efficient.

“We’ve also got six more beer taps going in with more local craft beers available, so that’ll be great.”

Cam said 70 percent of the reno was now complete. “From here it’s all about fine-tuning it and making it unique to us. We have come a long way, from potential bankruptcy, to a ghetto takeaway shop out the front, and now to a fully open restaurant again. From here, we want to change it up.”

“We’re proud of our burger restaurant but we wanted to make sure we were pushing forward. We don’t always get it right but we value the feedback we receive and we are always working on improving.”

What won’t change are DownTown’s renowned burgers. “We’re famous for our soft pretzel buns,” said Cam. “Nobody else does anything like them. Competitors have tried to copy them but they never get it right. Ours are like a cross between an Amish pretzel and a New York bagel.” 

• DownTown Burgers is open 7 days (currently only for takeaways) from 12pm-8pm Sun-Wed, 12pm-9pm Thurs-Sat. www.downtownnambour.com. Phone:  5441 1587.