A popular North East burger joint is sharing its growing success with its old mates from Newcastle Eagles.
The American-inspired 40 Ounce, which is soon to take park in the city’s newly-announced mega food event Feastopia, first made its name on the Team Valley in Gateshead where its regular customers included the city’s renowned basketball team whose players would stop off for a double burger protein hit each week after training.
And as its fast-booming business took off on TikTok, the outlet – whose logo and design are inspired by the US hip hop culture – was soon working flat-out serving up those mighty burgers, made from Aberdeen Angus beef, to daily queues of fans. Fast-forward a year and Reiss Maddison and his business partner Mason Kelly have expanded their burger brand into Newcastle; grown their staff from seven to 15 and won an award.
They picked up the Uber Eats North East Restaurant of the Year award in the autumn and now their Newcastle Eagles friends have just won the Super League Basketball trophy title; sealing their reputation as Britain’s most successful basketball team as Mike Okauru – who, as previously reported, had been rated among the ones to watch this season – was rated ‘player of the game’.
And team members and staff got together to celebrate their mutual support and big wins. “They brought the trophy down,” says Reiss who is delighted at their joint success.
And while Newcastle Eagles are hitting the heights, 40 Ounce is also continuing its upwards and onwards story. “It’s going from strength to strength” adds 32-year-old Reiss who, having opened a second permanent 40 Ounce outlet in November inside Golf Fang – which used to be Ghetto Golf – at Hoult’s Yard in Ouseburn, now divides his time between there and Team Valley.
(Image: Reiss Maddison)
“It’s hard work!” he says of the team’s commitment to duplicating the entire menu at the Newcastle base, which is open daily. And Gateshead’s top seller – the Uncle Elroy burger made with American cheese, Applewood smoked maple bacon, slow-cooked pastrami and a special sauce- is also proving the most popular there too.
The team are set to launch a new menu, teasing an Uncle Phil addition on the 40 Ounce Facebook page which is described as a double patty ‘authentic Philly cheesesteak with our own spin’ and, made with dry-aged ribeye, it comes with a dipping pot of cheese. But the long-term favourites will remain on the menu too and those popular burgers – served up in its trademark graffiti-style packaging – also will be playing a part in Feastopia when the new food and drink event launches in Newcastle’s Times Square in the same month as the annual Paddy Fest weekend and the Wembley match screening.
As previously reported, Feastopia will start on March 21, following on from Paddy Fest which recently announced its March 13-17 return and now incorporates an already-sold-out fan zone for the Newcastle v Liverpool Carabao Cup final on March 16. Over three days Feastopia will be serving up food and drink – plus music – from what organisers describe as a ‘selection of the nation’s best traders’.
And among them will be 40 Ounce as it continues to build its brand. Reiss said of the new event which follows a full-on 2024: “Coming on the back of the last year, it’s an amazing opportunity.”
View news Source: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/food-drink-news/north-east-burger-favourite-celebrates-30979144
