Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Romin Irani. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Romin, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today So, naming is such a challenge. How did you come up with the name of your brand?

Most of my friends has always made fun of me at some point in my life cause every time we eat something I refer to it being BOMB or Hella Bomb, Super Bomb. So originally I had thought of working Hella Bomb into the name. I asked a few friends about my ideas and there were many ideas floating around, RomBurger, HellaBombBurgers, Burgerani, Top Romin. However, since we’re Americans we always gotten shorten things down so a good amount of them called me ROM, instead of ROM-IN. So when RomBomb’s became an option it was the once that stuck cause everyone that knew me would get it. It still funny watching other people (especially older folks) ordering one cause the name is so odd to them haha

Romin, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

“Americans love to eat burgers” Its a stereotype I’ll happily take because burgers are awesome and the world loves them because of us. Like you, I’ve always loved them and discovering new ones. So a bit before covid I got into the BurgerShow on youtube by Alvin Cailan and reading and cooking through Hamburger American by George Motz, both men who are doing the American burger a great service. I started making my own and landed with something I loved. I served it up to some friends and asked them honestly would it be a burger the would pay for and got a resounding yes. Covid hit, and I didn’t think about burgers for a long time. One day during a time or prayer I felt God ask me to take a risk, so I did and sold burgers in front of friends houses. After a few weeks of selling out each time, I got everything legal and started my business! Now I’m still serving regulars weekly and am booked out almost every Saturday doing catering for private parities all over San Diego! Family parties are so important and I always feel honored when I’m invited in that space. Its a blessings for me because usually the host loves my burgers and wants to share that with their family and friends. My catering setup is small and lean and I can fit anywhere which makes me more doable that a food truck for most people, I love getting to be in that space with them.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

I wouldn’t have a business right now if it wasn’t for Instagram, so I have to be thankful but at the same time I dislike having to deal with Instagram’s algorithms constantly. However, for me what was important was constantly talking to my new customers, every week even today I reach out to a new customer and ask how their burger was. I think being yourself is important to your brand, think about what you like on social media and use those tactics. I love memes and high quality photos so I focused on using those to my advantage. I think its super important to reply to any comment or question people have. I always let my customers know how helpful their posts are to our business and always thank when they post our product to their story and make sure to repost them. Also I hate companies that bombard me with too many posts, so even though I know Instagram wants me to POST POST POST, REEL REEL REEL, I don’t want my company to be too excessive because I value that on my own feed, will I lose out because of that, well see.

Can you open up about how you funded your business?

I built my whole business on low risk and I think people need to know that doing it that way is possible. So many times the ones you see on IG or saying you cant build without taking crazy risks sway so many people away from starting. I built a whole system that didn’t need high investment, was sustainable with 1 employee and kept costs down low. My initial investment was some of my own stuff plus less than $500 in supplies. Then I saved all the profit I made over the first few popups and used it for the costs I would incur in making the business legal. By the time the first month had passed, I could walk away at any point and I would never loose money. No lease, no crazy investments, no one else controlling my company. I know that this comes with issues when it comes time to scale, but not everybody needs to scale their business into the millions. Some people are ok with building a business that can generate 40-140k a year without having to work 80 hour weeks. Not all of us NEED tons of money to enjoy life. I’ll take a more sustainable work life balance (working 2-3 days a week) over the higher paycheck and stress and 6 day work weeks other business owners have, but hey that’s my choice.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.rombombburgers.com
• Instagram: rombombburger
• Facebook: RomBomb Burger

Image Credits
Romin Irani