Inspired by a trip to The States, husband and wife Mike and Jennifer McEwen, are now the proud owners of a huge food truck which serves up some of the best burgers in Moray.
It all started on their honeymoon, travelling down the west coast of America trying food from various food trucks and small corner cafes which line the streets of California and Seattle.
Mike and Jennifer, who were already big barbecue fans, fell in love with the American style of street food on offer and wanted to bring a flavour of what was going on across the pond back to Elgin.
With backgrounds in hospitality/food and drink, the duo set about ordering a massive food van at the end of 2019 which they renovated and launched in January 2021 as The Humble Burger.
This, plus their pop-up cocktail bar, Humble Cocktails, which they launched in 2018, was set to be a recipe for success. That was until the pandemic put a spanner in the works.
Mike said: “We toured up and down the west coast of the US in summer 2019 and that’s where we fell in love with the different level of street food over there. There’s food trucks and cuisine from across the world.
“We spent a few weeks in California and 10 days in Seattle. We were staying right beside Pike Place Market, a world famous market that has lots of independent food stalls. That’s what really sparked the idea. There was a niche in the market for reinventing the burger van over here in trying to get away from the greasy spoon idea.”
Big is better
Launching in the midst of a pandemic on January 7, 2021, the idea for The Humble Burger has been in the works for a year and a half until they rented a unit in Chanonry Industrial Estate on Chanonry Spur.
He added: “We bought our burger van and renovated the whole thing. It is very, very big, so we needed to find somewhere to park and operate it from.
“It wasn’t until January this year that we managed to open the hatch for the first time. It was a big gamble for us, Jennifer was on maternity leave and I had just left my full-time career, we were in the middle of the pandemic and that leap of faith has thankfully went well. It has been a very intense first half of the year.
“We actually thought we’d have to close before we hit the ground running because of the lockdown announcements – that was a big panic. Luckily, because we were an outside caterer, we got to stay open. We keep things simple but do them to the best of our ability.”
All the b’s
With Mike, who is originally from Rothes, leading the team of four in the kitchen, the burger specialists have been firing out hundreds of patties every month to keep up with customer demand.
Open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11am to 3pm, the venue is also open on Friday and Saturday evenings from 4.30-7.30/8pm due to customer demand.
“We did originally offer breakfast but we moved away from that. We’re open for lunch service and we do an evening takeaway on Friday and Saturday.
“There’s a lot of trial and error. We seem to be really good at anything with the letter ‘b’ – bagels, burritos, burgers etc. Loaded fries is a favourite of ours and we took a lot of inspiration from The States for our menu.
“We try and use as many local suppliers as we can, sourcing our meats from local butchers. We use Stewart Mackie’s butchery products from his butcher in Aberlour.
Bigger picture
Stepping into their seventh month in business, Mike has big plans for the business and is already toying with the idea of hosting community-oriented event in the future which would benefit their business, and many others.
He added: “I think in time we’d like to have a larger bit of ground which we could offer the food catering side of things, the cocktails and something community orientated.
“Whether that be a space for stalls, open mic nights, or other small businesses like us to all come together and do something for the local people.”
Map of street food vendors in Tayside and Fife