Our Crew

One of the coolest things about working at BurgerFuel is the career opportunities

Here are just a few of the many movers and shakers within the BurgerFuel company

LEE

When Lee’s early career as a blue eyed, blond haired baby model didn’t quite take off as expected, he trained as a classical opera singer. Fast forward a few years, and we’re not quite sure what happened to his opera career, but his experience working for some pretty massive national radio stations, his organisational skills, penchant for list making, love of music and the dulcet sounds of his radio voice lead him to his spiritual home as the Radio BurgerFuel Station Manager, and he’s been gracing the airwaves both in and out of store, our very own in-house radio station ever since.

As a man of many talents, he also works in the marketing department, producing BurgerVision, and you may also have met him in his role as The Man Behind the Tweets, but in his own words “it always comes back to the music"

Nice title, what do you actually do? Anything and everything to do with music for BurgerFuel! I'm constantly plugging in cables in for our DJs, talking on-air, interviewing musicians and trawling the web to find amazing new tunes. 

Time at BurgerFuel: 5 years next month!

Favourite part about working for BurgerFuel: Working with a great bunch of people who are so passionate about what they do. 

What do you get up to outside of BurgerFuel (passions/hobbies/weird habits/second jobs/double lives): I love watching live music, have a weird OCD tendency to make lists and am constantly frustrated by my ongoing love and support of Arsenal FC.

Most memorable BurgerFuel moment: The time that Everclear played at one of our parties and Jordan Luck jumped up and did a couple of songs too. My 17 year old self will never forget that night.

Most embarrassing BurgerFuel moment: Interviewing a big international musician and not hitting the record button. I felt pretty stupid, but he was kind enough to re-answer some of my questions.

Most epic BurgerFuel party: It's gotta be the Xmas party of '14. You can't really go wrong with a rave room, a confetti cannon, ice sculptures and a giant white horse.

Got any weird talents? Does being a classically trained opera singer count? 

INEZ STRYDOM

Inez has been part of the BurgerFuel store network for 5 years and has made a valuable contribution to many stores within that time. She can also fit her entire fist in her mouth which is equal parts impressive and inspiring.

She first appeared in the wonderful world of BurgerFuel, when she joined the Albany team as a dishwasher and loved the vibe. After a transfer to our Windsor Park store, she was promoted to Day Shift Manager and then things got real, real fast. Next step on the purple ladder was her role as Training Manager for three franchised stores... if you ever had exceptional customer service on the North Shore of Auckland, it's safe to say that Inez was probably involved. Travel came next, with trips to Christchurch, Wellington and Australia to help open stores there… but it doesn’t stop there. Coming full circle, she ended up back at our Albany as your store manager, where she ran the store at full throttle for 18 months. Today, you’ll find her in another new role, managing our brand spankers new Whangaparaoa Store. Yip, Inez has had quite the journey!

Favourite part about working for BurgerFuel? The experience I have gained has been priceless! But hands down, the people! I have made irreplaceable friendships within the Fuel met some incredible and insane people and have memories for a lifetime. Oh and I guess the food is pretty good too! 

What has your time at BurgerFuel taught you? The amount of things that I have learnt would take days to compile, but I guess the biggest thing is an appreciation for how much passion and soul and love people put into their work and how to make a bloody top notch burger!

Work wise, what are you passionate about? I'm pretty passionate about systems and quality, as I am sure my staff could tell you.(I guess that makes me a nerd?).Also really putting your heart and soul into everything you do, making every day your bitch! I also really get a kick out of seeing my staff happy, enjoying their work and feeling like I have inspired even just a little bit of the purple passion in others. 

What do you get up to outside of BurgerFuel (passions/hobbies/weird habits/second jobs/double lives)? I volunteer at the SPCA with the dogs once a month (I’m slightly animal obsessed). I also really enjoy live music, nature adventures and being artsy fartsy whenever I can. Travelling is definitely one of my biggest passions and I've visited about 15 different countries in my short 24 years.

Most epic BurgerFuel party? This is literally impossible to narrow down to one... no one knows how to party like BF does!

JAMES STEVENSON

Our mate James has been part of the furniture at BurgerFuel for 17 years. He’s a successful BurgerFuel franchisee with an ever growing stable of stores (current total of 5!), a full throttle attitude for life, and a story about a BurgerFuel conference that may or may not involve a one of our founders, a golf cart, an upset green keeper and some real good times… he won’t let us tell you the rest, so use your imagination stations. 

His BurgerFuel story goes a little something like this: Opened BurgerFuel Takapuna, opened BurgerFuel Albany, sold BurgerFuel Takapuna, opened BurgerFuel Windsor Park, opened BurgerFuel Silverdale, opened BurgerFuel Westgate,… and most recently, he opened our new Whangaparaoa store. 

It’s exhausting just thinking about it! Slide right to read more about what makes James tick. 

What has your time at BurgerFuel taught you? Almost everything I know in a professional sense! I guess that "it is what YOU make it" would be a good summary

Work wise, what are you passionate about? People development. It's my biggest challenge right now, but as I slowly learn to do it better it's amazing seeing people change and grow

What do you get up to outside of BurgerFuel (any passions/hobbies/weird habits/second jobs/double lives)? I've got 5 kids and a wonderful (patient!) wife. We love to go camping in summer and usually manage a bach holiday in there somewhere too. I'm a mad keen fisherman so I'm out on the boat whenever possible - NZ is simply paradise!