Superstars Only

How to Start a Business with the Owner of 7th St. Burger

Photos by Superstars Only
Interview by Adrian Tiu
Adrian
What was your first business venture?
Kevin
I started a real estate company in the city about 13 years ago. That did alright. I used to have five burger shops in Jersey, but during COVID there was a dispute and I was forced out. Things kind of went downhill. I was broke. I was living on my boys couch in Queens. Then I was doing Amazon delivery about two and a half years ago. Five days in, I stopped and came back to the city, put 7th Street on my credit card, opened it and then three months later it blew up.
Adrian
What's your opinion on Shake Shack?
Kevin
I think they used to be good like 10 years ago. I don't blame them for selling out, that's just what it is.
Adrian
Have you inflated the price at all?
Kevin
We pretty much stayed pretty much the same since then. I think we went up 50 cents one day about two years ago. Nothing really too crazy. We had some complaints about being too expensive but people are gonna complain no matter what, right? You're not gonna make everybody happy.
Adrian
Where'd you go to school?
Kevin
Rutgers. I studied Middle Eastern Studies and didn't take any business classes. I went to school the first time, failed out, and then went back when I was 22. You don't need business classes to start a business. Stuff like this you just gotta do it. It's more of an experience thing.
Adrian
What are the most important qualities a person should have when starting a business?
Kevin
You don't have to be smart to make money. You just can't be scared to go for it. A lot of people I know overanalyze it all. Half the time we open a new store I forget everything we did at the last store. We just opened our eighth store two weeks ago and I don't remember the process of how I did it. We probably overlooked a million things and probably failed a lot of permits and inspections.
Adrian
Did you have the original 7th Street location in mind before you started?
Kevin
Not at all. It was peak COVID and nobody was looking for a place. It was one of those once in a lifetime opportunities. Like buying property right after the housing crash.
Adrian
How did you get the initial budget to start 7th Street?
Kevin
I put 75-80% on my credit card. This was our last shot. I was already in debt at the time. I had called up my cousin and asked to borrow 5k for rent.
Adrian
How'd you come up with the recipe?
Kevin
I kept it simple. Literally salt, pepper, sauce. In my opinion, all smash burgers are more or less the same.
Adrian
What do you attribute 7th Street Burger's success to?
Kevin
The price and the fact that it's a late night option. Before, the only late night option was pizza, but now it's like burgers. There was like no food out here. For as much food as there is out there, there's not.
Adrian
Was your target audience always the night crowd?
Kevin
Honestly, it wasn't. Initially, it was more the dinner crowd, but then it kind of just kind of poured over into the late night. Our first late night there were like no customers, but we stuck with it and people started coming in and now it's what it is now. I still get nervous that we won't be busy next week.
Adrian
How much of the success would you attribute to the branding or marketing?
Kevin
We didn't do much marketing, but TikTok blew us up. Not even our TikTok. Just, like, food reviewers. The amount of people that used to come and be like, "We found you through TikTok"—I'm like, "Damn." TikTok puts Instagram to shame.
Adrian
Yeah, the grease and the oil of the burger when it's on screen—
Kevin
For sure. Everyone's just so health concerned these days that that's what made us stand out. For a while, it was whoever had the cuter place and the nicer little neon sign. I was so against that. I don't want anything social media related here. I think it's so corny. The menu is a temporary menu I found on Amazon when I didn't know what else to do. The only thing I thought about in terms of the branding was to make it look like it's old so that when you walk in here, you think it's been here for 30 years. I was looking up names of different pizza places that have been here for 30, 40 years and it's all simple names like Joe's pizza, Prince Street Pizza, those kinds of places. So we wanted to do something that resonated with the neighborhood and the street and, at the same time, didn't stand out too much. The name is so simple, but I must've gone through a thousand names before I landed on it.
Adrian
What were some of the names that didn't make the cut?
Kevin
Montana's
Kevin's Burger
Keavan's Burger
Nicky's
The Burger Shoppe
Adrian
When does a company become corporate?
Kevin
I think once you leave the city you gotta sell out. Once you hit the suburbs you have to give in; you have to have a structure, you have to have a look.
Adrian
Is venturing out of the city part of the plan?
Kevin
We're going to Hoboken next.
Adrian
Have you had any celebrities come through?
Kevin
One of the biggest ones that blew us up in the beginning was Bella Hadid. When she posted us we got a lot of female customers.
Adrian
How do you think you capitalized on that?
Kevin
I think the way we capitalized is that we didn't. I think pushing on that is kind of corny, so we just kind of let it happen.
Adrian
What was your hiring process originally?
Kevin
If you're laid back, you're good to go. We're not very strict. We don't ask for resumes or do background checks. I might fake a background check, but not actually do it. A year ago today we had 10 employees and now we have 150. Now, we actually have to be proper and do the paperwork. We have an HR team that cleans up all my messes. I'm too laid back, that's my problem sometimes.
Adrian
What was the biggest mistake you made starting out?
Kevin
I didn't anticipate how busy we would be. Our kitchen can't handle what we do now.
Adrian
How much free time do you have?
Kevin
I have a lot of free time, honestly. I work five to ten hours a week right now. Having said that, you do deal with a lot of stress. I'm always gone, but I'm on the phone a lot. You gotta set up your business for that, though. That has to be your focus from the beginning for you to get to that place. I even told my partner that if we're still working 40, 50 hours a week here after a few months, it's not worth it.
Adrian
Have you ever tried making the burger at home?
Kevin
So before we started, I used to make the burger at home. I'd just order meat and we were making burgers all the time before I found the space. We made the stuff as we went along, honestly. The sauce has changed over time.
Adrian
Which location attracts the worst crowd?
Kevin
MacDougal Street.
Adrian
How has your life changed?
Kevin
My life has changed a lot in two years. I can finally pay rent. I used to live with some Grandma on Fourth Street and Second Ave for 800 bucks.
Adrian
What makes someone a superstar?
Kevin
My little cousin moved here a little bit ago. He's 24. Every night I give him a speech. I'm like, "You can do whatever you want. Who cares? Don't listen to anyone. If it goes bad, it goes bad." For business specifically, they're literally like, "You cannot do this." I'm like, "Okay, we should do it."