Edinburgh's Burger Meats Bun up for sale

A BURGER restaurant has been put up for sale less than two years after opening in the Capital.

Burger Meets Bun in Forth Street. Picture: Jon Savage.

Burger Meats Bun, which shut its original base in Glasgow’s West Regent Street last summer, could now exit its Forth Street premises, which was previously occupied by cafe Urban Angel.

The restaurant, which was launched by Ben Dantzic and James Forrest – who met while working at the Michelin-starred Peat Inn in Fife – became well known for twists on burger-bar classics such as Thai chilli cheese fries.

Now, Burger Meats Bun’s Forth Street branch has been put on the market, while the company focuses on the Glasgow market and on pop-ups and events catering.

But Mr Dantzic insisted he was only testing the market and had no immediate plans to sell up. He said the restaurant remained busy and was not affected by rival burger chains.

“We’re testing the market and are in no rush to sell,” he said. “But our core business is in Glasgow and we have got more opportunities there that we are looking to pursue.

“We are looking at doing more events and outside catering as well. We would still like to have a strong presence here in Edinburgh, but more on the events side of things. We have an opportunity we’re looking at for during the Festival, but it’s at a very early stage.”

Burger Meats Bun is the second high-profile burger bar to go up for sale in the Capital in recent times, following the opening of a glut of upmarket burger chains. Wannaburger, which opened in 2007, put its Queensferry Street premises on the market last year.

The so-called “burger revolution” has seen numerous luxury burger chains open in Edinburgh in the past year, including the recent opening of London chain Byron Burger on North Bridge and US brand Five Guys, which now has five outlets in Scotland, including one at Fort Kinnaird shopping park.

Glasgow rival Bread Meats Bread also has a recently-opened branch in the Capital, next to the Filmhouse cinema on Lothian Road.

But Edinburgh food blogger Blythe Robertson, who runs the Lunchquest review website, does not believe the city has yet reached burger saturation point.

“As with restaurants of all types in Edinburgh, I think location plays a huge part,” she said.

“I was very surprised when Burger Meats Bun took on the Forth Street premises where Urban Angel had previously traded. It has just never said ‘burger bar’ to me.

“Recent arrivals Bread Meats Bread and Byron seem to be doing a roaring trade, so I’m not sure that we’re at saturation point quite yet.”

She added: “However, we’ve been on quite a run of new, not altogether inspiring openings cashing in on the burger frenzy, so people are starting to despair at the lack of quality and diversity.

“For me, this just presents a good opportunity for a fresh wave of ‘antidote to the burger bar’ type places.”