Feature: The burger bloat

Northern burger powerhouse Fat Hippo recently landed in London, sparking an expansion strategy that will see the group’s 16-strong herd – or ‘bloat’, to use the correct collective noun – grow to 22 in the next 12 months. Dine Out editor Genna Ash-Brown caught up with operations director Michael Johnson to discuss the brand’s journey so far

I’ve had my eye on northern-based burger concept Fat Hippo for a while. This rapidly growing business claims to encourage “the good kind of gluttony” – a glance at the sizable, over-filled burgers pictured on the brand’s Instagram feed, dripping with colourful sauces and oozing melted cheese, will help you understand why. Described as ‘good old fashioned, roll up your sleeves and get it all over your face food’, this is the sort of casual dining concept that resonates with out-of-home diners across
the UK.

The Channel 5 documentary Fast Food Giants, broadcast in May last year, revealed that the British public chow down a staggering 2.5bn burgers a year, which roughly works out to the average punter consuming 37 burgers annually. Hearty, affordable and easy to customise and transport, the American export cuisine remains a national favourite dish for good reason. But how do you build a successful independent restaurant chain in a market so incredibly saturated? Perhaps Michael Johnson, operations director at Fat Hippo, had the insider knowledge to inform and enlighten.

If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em

The restaurant concept was born in 2010 in Newcastle upon Tyne. Johnson was building up his culinary career at the time, having wanted to cook professionally since finishing school. “I became a chef in the navy,” he recalls. “I wanted to go to college, but the high standard of training and the opportunity to travel meant that’s just where I ended up.”

Johnson worked his way up the ranks through an 11-year stint, but a hunger to experience more of the culinary industry eventually brought him closer to home. “I gfsot a job in a high-end sort of café-bar – the biggest place in Newcastle at the time, he explains. “The place had just spent millions and millions on a full refurb, but I wanted to do something a bit more refined.”

He did the rounds with his CV but, keen to work under the venue’s head chef, one particular fine-dining restaurant caught his eye. “I did a stretch with them and then got offered a restaurant of my own,” he says. “I took a few chefs with me and taught them valuable skills like making fresh pasta, meat prep, fish prep, pastry and bread-making. I held on to a good core of people and was there for 10 or 11 years. But then I lost my GM.”

Michael Johnson, operations director, Fat Hippo (Image: @Lateef.photography)

*GASP*! Who did he lose his employee to, you might ask? Well, a certain burger-focused concept that goes by the name of Fat Hippo. But obviously the story doesn’t end there. Soon, the Fat Hippo would come a-knocking on Johnson’s door, too.

“They got in touch at just the right time,” he notes. “They said, “We’re looking for an executive chef – is that something you might be interested in?” I just said, “Yeah, I’ll come along and look at the setup.” I was aware of Fat Hippo as we did the same circuits when I used to have my pizza van, but I had no idea how busy and forward-thinking it was. I was excited. Both the product and the vision were good. I wanted to get on board.”

Bountiful burgers

Menu development at Fat Hippo is a constant process. The group’s “menu evolution”, as Johnson calls it, began around seven years ago, when he made the decision to steer the team away from using breaded chicken breasts. “I knew we needed to get into thighs. We needed to brine them and marinate them overnight in buttermilk,” he says. “Buttermilk chicken was just coming in at the time and took a while to take off. It took a little bit of selling in the early days but now, the volume is just mad. It’s starting to overtake beef in the likes of London.” Could that be the secret to the brand’s rapid development – the ability to spot an emerging trend and catch the wave before it breaks?

“We started working heavily on the vegan side of things about four years ago,” he adds. “We partnered with some great plant-based companies at the time that are just massive now. We’ve always been on top of menu progression – seeing what’s on trend but, most importantly, what looks and tastes good.”

Dappa black vanilla ice cream

The brand has been heavily investing in its dessert offering over the last five years. “We’ve been on the hunt for something that’s decent on price and can be rolled out across all sites. We’ve now got this nut-based ice cream from Dappa – they’ve developed a black soft serve for us. We’re doing them in little pots with toppings. Rollouts are tricky at this time of year, but it seems to be going down well. I think there’s a lot of black ice cream out there, but I helped develop this one and think I found a product that’s smooth, not gritty and just looks good – tasty, plant-based and Instagram-able. We’ll be pushing that big style this year.”

Business time

Johnson joined as executive chef in 2016 – but the operations role would soon rear its head. “Our MD was thinking about moving abroad and wanted me to take over here,” he explains. “Covid then struck, and I became integral to keeping the sites going, pushing the brand, changing the way we worked on click-and-collect, delivery and takeaway and then obviously the reopening of sites. So, two years ago, I got offered the position of director. And here we are today.”

Of course, as is the case with much of the change one experiences in life, the process of transitioning to the new role added a real learning curve to Johnson’s professional journey. “I was faced with the scale of the business,” he notes. “I mean, a lot of it really is still new to me. We’ve grown at such a rate that where we used to have 100 staff, we now have 350, so the size of the operation can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming, especially when you’re trying to communicate everything clearly and you’re looking for brand consistency. You obviously want to come across as a well-run company, so we want to retain staff and promote them on performance and longevity. It can be hard – it’s carnage out there at the minute for hospitality. It’s coming from every angle. Just this week we’ve had to discuss train strikes and how we’re going to get people in our venues, how we’ll get the team to visit new sites and then transport them home. What will our opening hours be? All that, on top of price increases and the energy crisis, it’s just major.”

Despite the challenges, Johnson has been a key player in the brand’s continuing success, from leading menu development and creation in the early years, to his current responsibilities, which include overseeing the day-to-day running of sites, liaising with suppliers and ensuring new openings run smoothly. He says his time as exec chef is certainly a feather in his cap as he progresses in the role, instilling him with first-hand insight into what’s achievable, along with an understanding of staff that would have been impossible to nurture on that level without rolling up his sleeves and getting stuck in.

“We’re not just sitting in an office and saying, “This is a menu, just roll it out and get on with it.” I still design all the kitchens, have conversations with chefs and sometimes even put in a few shifts. We were short in Shoreditch a few weeks ago so I went down and worked in the kitchen for the weekend. I’ve still got a few moves!” he laughs.

'Good old fashioned, roll up your sleeves and get it all over your face food’

As we chat over Zoom from opposite ends of the country, he tells me he’s off to Durham the next day to shoot photos for Fat Hippo’s Veganuary special, and also mentions the nightmare of planning a trip down to Bristol – my beloved hometown – to support a new opening in Lane 7 in the midst of a string of train strikes. Johnson has 16 established venues (and counting) across the UK to oversee – it’s a good thing the man likes to travel!

National takeover

With a three-strong street food fleet touring the country plus restaurants or concessions in key metropolitan locations – including Birmingham, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool and Glasgow, the brand has long been one to watch on the UK’s northern burger scene. But with recent openings in the likes of Cardiff, Bristol and London, and six new launches in the pipeline for 2023, it’s safe to say the Fat Hippo bloat is making its presence known down south. The Shoreditch launch towards the end of last year – its first bricks-and-mortar venue in the capital – was a pivotal moment for the group. “The local community and businesses have been so welcoming,” he says with a smile. “But really, we just want to hold our own. We’re not trying to go down there and stand out – we just wanted to land and do what we do best. Our main concern is that we’re being ethical – that’s what we want to be doing as a business. We’ve been looking at our packaging and how we can become carbon-neutral down the line, which is a big process. We want to be aware of these things but obviously, we’re also making an effort to fit in and become part of the community with all of our new launches.
“We want to become a brand that people are familiar with. We want them to have consistent good times in our restaurants. Becoming a go-to, trusted brand, that’s a real goal for us. That’s why it feels so good to be popping up in major cities.”

In his quest to find the best new locations for Fat Hippo to call home, Johnson has, of course, encountered a few that simply wouldn’t fit the bill. Student towns seem to be top of the hitlist, and a recent trip to the south coast dropped a few potential pins on the flourishing Fat Hippo map. “We looked at Portsmouth, Bournemouth and Southampton in just a couple of days. We looked at lots of different properties – it’s good to get about and see what’s out there,” he says, with a modest, almost self-effacing air that underpins our entire conversation. Whether he would ever say it himself or not, big things are coming for the brand this year and beyond. Such purposeful and rapid growth doesn’t just happen without a solid business model and concept to back it up. All that’s left now is to keep your eyes peeled – no doubt Fat Hippo will soon be migrating to a town
near you.

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