BURGER ICON ON THE WAY

RENOWNED Warrnambool institution Kermond’s Hamburgers will bring its delicious beef patties to Geelong, with a new store opening in Ryrie St.

Kermond’s Geelong manager Tim Tanner said he hoped to officially introduce Geelong to Kermond’s traditional hamburger style before December 8, which is the day the business began operating from a caravan in 1949.

Mr Tanner said he and business partner Brett Healey decided to expand the longstanding business into Geelong when they noticed people travelling more than an hour to taste their burgers.

“We had a lot of people driving down from Ballarat and Geelong,” he said.

Mr Tanner began his career at Kermond’s at 14, but then left the business when he moved overseas after university.

“It was my first job when I was a kid, I’d been handing resumes out all day and Rob Kermond handed me a pad and pen and asked me to write my name and address and it was a kind of a litmus test, if you wrote neatly and spelt it correctly you got the job,” he said.

But Mr Tanner will be back flipping burgers at the Geelong store where he hopes to cook the first batch and said he would “probably be there seven days a week”.

He said Kermond’s menu had not changed since 1996 when they added chilli, but it was the shop’s traditional burger style that kept people coming back for more.

“We will need to educate the new customers as to what we do and why we do it; for example our burger with the lot has egg, bacon and tomato because back in 1949 they didn’t have the refrigerator for the cheese,” Mr Tanner said.

He said the business would employ 30 casual staff at its Geelong store.