How Gburger chef Matt Hinds made the flip from pop-up shop to modern diner

Gburger (short for Gitanes burger) is the sister restaurant to its namesake, Gitanes, an Elgin Street high-end staple. What started in 2020 as a pop-up restaurant designed to offset the effects of COVID and keep staff working, Gburger has turned into a local favourite in its own right. I sat down with one of the […]

Gburger (short for Gitanes burger) is the sister restaurant to its namesake, Gitanes, an Elgin Street high-end staple. What started in 2020 as a pop-up restaurant designed to offset the effects of COVID and keep staff working, Gburger has turned into a local favourite in its own right. I sat down with one of the business partners and head chef of Gburger, Matt Hinds, to get his insight into what it’s like not only to own and operate a restaurant in Ottawa, but also how to adapt a business model at the height of its popularity. Hinds has been a part of the team that has run Gburger since its inception in 2020 and took over as the main operator when it transitioned to a standalone concept. The concept today, he says, is creating an alternative to national fast-food brands using local ingredients such as beef from Enright Cattle Co. in Tweed, Ont., cooked fresh to order and married with a casual service style with techniques that stem from high-end hospitality. This “throwback diner with modern upgrades” benefits from its high-end background while maintaining a comfortable and casual feel.

However, this is not how Gburger started. Once leaving its humble beginnings as a burger pop-up aiming to sell 20 burgers a night, Gburger took over a large space on the corner of Elgin Street and Gladstone Avenue. The goal was to be a wine bar: a beautiful space with great wine, beer and cocktails that sold top-tier burgers using the best ingredients.  Gburger accomplished this feat, but at the same time Hinds and his team noticed a trend with their restaurant. According to Hinds, guests weren’t coming for the wine and cocktails, but rather for the burgers. As a result, Gburger made the tough decision to pivot.  Gburger in its current format has two locations, one in Manotick and one in Wellington West. While Hinds and his team maintain a love of good wine and cold beer, they have shifted their focus to a quicker, more modern diner-style of service. Their main goal remains the same: produce delicious food with high-quality ingredients in a community-driven space.

Making these changes has presented challenges, says Hinds. While the team has learned a lot about themselves over the years, they’ve also learned about the challenges of their unique “high-quality/quick service” business model. Hinds notes that serving burgers comes with a connotation of perceived value. Trying to show the community that the use of high-end ingredients, better service styles and making everything in-house makes a huge difference in the product while balancing the expectation of what a burger and fries should cost is an ongoing learning experience. We’ve all heard restaurant owners talk about food and labour costs, but that battle can be much more difficult without a traditional service model to show people. The challenge of passing on value to guests is ongoing, but remains at the core of the Gburger team’s goals. Hinds says that the new iteration of Gburger is meant to simplify things and highlight what’s most important: great ingredients and great people. The decision to change models was not easy, but Hinds notes that, as life evolved for him and his business partners, so did their goals in the industry. The late nights on Elgin Street were what they understood, coming from a fine-dining background. Now that they have families, tackling the day-service model made the most sense.

With all of the challenges, it is not lost on Hinds how many rewarding moments the endeavour has offered him. He cites his first real kitchen job, working at the now-closed Paisano’s in Manotick, which was located directly across from where the Gburger is now, and how he felt when his bosses left him to his own devices in the kitchen on some evenings.  Hinds told me of the feeling he got when he watched people eating and enjoying food that he cooked. The “large kick” he got out of that experience is the same one he feels today when he walks into a Gburger and sees families enjoying their meals. Immersing Gburger into the community and creating positive experiences is what drives Hinds, who claims that the day that feeling goes away is the day he leaves the industry for good. Of course, Ottawa provides its own set of challenges for restaurateurs. Doing almost anything in hospitality here is different than in other major Canadian cities. Hinds notes that Ottawa has an emerging food scene that is still catching on in some ways. He claims that, “There (are) so many amazing restaurants in Ottawa right now, that as a consumer it can be hard to keep up and visit all the spaces. We’ve gone a bit 0-100 over the past little bit and the consumer is still catching up.” The challenges of running a business in a city that is still finding its culinary identity is a game of trial and error, but Gburger seems to have found its stride.

Hinds offered advice to the aspiring restaurateur looking to bring a unique idea to life in Ottawa: “Dream big and be willing to start small. Gburger went from a pop-up with expectations to sell 20 burgers an evening, but we always wondered, could this be a scalable concept?  Fight for every little victory and if you’re willing to do the hard work, the world is your oyster.” Hinds notes that he wants the communities they work in and the city as a whole to know how grateful he and his team are to see people support their business. The feeling that he got as a young chef hasn’t left and he believes it’s because he is lucky to be in communities like Wellington West and Manotick.  Gburger is a success story in adaptation, care and growing with the community. By being able to notice trends, care about the product and the people and apply all of this to a well-executed business plan, Gburger has continued to grow into a local favourite. Jordan Pizzuti has been a local Ottawa food writer, content creator and hospitality professional for over 10 years. Through his “best of” series, Jordan has cemented himself as an expert in Ottawa hospitality and nightlife. He continues to promote the Ottawa hospitality scene through his “Are We Having Fun Yet?” brand and his work with OBJ.