Burger business bounces back with bold ambitions
Cam Scott has bold plans to build on the success of DownTown Burgers by introducing the spirit of his former bar Nook and Cranny into the new premises.
DownTown Burgers is back at a new address, nearly four months after extensive rain damage caused it to close its doors.
“I had some big decisions to make,” said owner Cam Scott. “Do we hold on and wait for some repairs to the old building or do we kick on in new premises.”
Cam decided to move just up the road to 113 Currie Street, a building he holds dear to his heart. At the same time he plans to reignite familiar memories of the site’s entertaining past.
It’s where he ran the popular bar and eatery, Nook and Cranny, from 2015-17. It was the first live music venue in Nambour, serving pizza in a chilled-out atmosphere .
“No other place in town quite suited what we wanted to do and we’ve always loved this space,” said Cam.
“We have plans to return the vibe back to its Nook and Cranny days with a bar, live music, comedy nights and more. We’ll be operating late Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. It would be a dishonour to anyone that had been to Nook and Cranny if we disregarded its past.”
As if rebuilding the business wasn’t enough, Cam also wants to expand the venue to include a rooftop beer garden function space within a year or two.
“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.
“We’re super excited and can’t wait. We’re proud of our burger restaurant but we wanted to make sure we were pushing forward. DownTown grew from nothing into something. We didn’t want to leave what we had so we’re combining what worked in the past, the nostalgia behind the old building, with what’s working now.”
Unfortunately, Cam was forced to close his fledgling gym Fit Yeah in order to accommodate the plans.
“It was a tough decision but one we had to make. I’m sure it was the right decision as we have big plans for this space.
“Besides we’d always wanted to change the design and look of DownTown Burgers and now we can do so.”
Once the decision was made the kitchen was operational in three days. It has been up and running for two weeks, for takeaways and deliveries only. “The response has been amazing and we can’t thank our customers enough. We can’t believe the feedback and the support we have had. Nambour has helped us get through a really scary and unfortunate situation”.
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. They have the density to hold the ingredients of a big burger — still soft on the inside, with a golden crust— and we actually boil our buns, which gives it the unique pretzel flavour. We love these buns and we make them fresh every day. We are really excited to incorporate into our new kitchen a viewing platform, so people can see first hand what we love so much and what makes our burgers so unique.”
Cam said there was plenty of activity bubbling under the surface in Nambour and looked forward to a bright future.
“From where Nambour was five or six years ago the amount of offices that have moved in to town has been great. Retail spaces are being taken up by offices with more employees. They’re replacing a few staff with dozens and that means more people in town.”
• DownTown Burgers is open 7 days (currently only for takeaways) from 5pm-8pm. downtownnambour.com. Phone: 5441 1587.