We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ben Burley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Ben, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Do you think folks should manage their own social media or hire a professional? What do you do?

Social media and marketing is a tricky beast; we owe a lot of early success to our identifiable branding that we were able to promote on Facebook and Instagram. Since then though, the landscape has drastically changed and its no longer just great photos that are needed but quality, edited video that is current and in-tune with rapidly changing trends and fads. Its easily a full time job as evidenced by all the creators out there doing it, making a living, and also looking to manage other business’ accounts in addition to their own. We are solicited weekly to hire an outside party and let them run our accounts but in staying true to our mission, we believe in authenticity over marketing, and cannot outsource our content creation. We do not stage our photos. Every burger or image of food that we feature is a real plate sent straight out from the kitchen and what you can expect to receive when you visit a Full Metal Burgers location, wherever you may find us.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

Full Metal Burgers was born out of a love for heavy metal music, quality food & local community while being fueled with Southern California craft beer. Company owner, Ben Burley, spent years working a desk job in a stressful industry, but was happiest when he was cooking for his friends and sitting in the backyard enjoying a cold one.

After a year plus of perfecting smashburger execution with more than willing test subjects, the forging of a burger company was well underway. Leaning into sources of passion to brainstorm from, clever names for the menu items coalesced with the banding over more craft beers leading up to a momentous point.

The real test was an auto show in the Spring of 2016. The usual food vendor was out, and Full Metal Burgers was in. That first event started a chain reaction of other bookings and by January 2017, we were a full time operation, trekking to breweries, parties, and events all over San Diego county. Since then, Full Metal Burgers has grown from running the OG Pattywagon to operating two permanent locations, a ghost kitchen and continuing the catering operations with a branded mobile setup.

Full Metal Burgers is more than just a rad burger shop. It’s about passion for making our customers’ day with delicious food and serving up plenty of true personalities as well. Next time you visit, feel free to ask what we’re blasting on the playlist or to check out Ben’s burger flail tattoo.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

COVID and the never-ending aftermath has been a formidable challenge. Shutdowns, supply chain issues, and inflation aside, our industry changed overnight while also having to continue to operate “as normal” under impossible conditions. Food Service was essential during this time not just for sustenance but for sanity and we had to pivot in order to survive as a company. Fortunately, we were able to leverage the fantastic relationship we had built with Black Plague Brewing as a regular food vendor into becoming their permanent food partner in June 2020. This brought Full Metal Burgers from a part time setup to a 7 day a week restaurant and we have continued to build off that success deploying our food trailer, opening The Purgatory Longue in Escondido last year in August, and taking over the ghost kitchen responsibilities at Dearly Departed in North Park in July 2023.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

When we were opening The Purgatory Lounge in Escondido, we discovered a major issue with the hood and ventilation system. I have a degree in Communications and electrical and mechanical issues are not in my wheelhouse at all. I essentially had to go back to school for a crash course in HVAC & CFM airflow while overcoming a fear of heights in order to solve the problem. Critical thinking and operating outside your comfort zone quickly become job requirements when we’re continually trying to grow and expand.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.fullmetalburgers.com
• Instagram: @fullmetalburgers
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fullmetalburgers
• Twitter: @fullmetalburger
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/full-metal-burgers-escondido-escondido
• Other: https://yelp.com/biz/full-metal-burgers-oceanside-oceanside

Image Credits
@gabehalvor @fullmetalburgers