Taste
The Love Is Baked In
Burger Patch founders Phil and Danea Horn
Growing a Better Burger Burger Patch founders Phil and Danea Horn are on a path to upend the fast-food industry with their local chain of plant-based restaurants. (A third location is set to open near Sacramento State early this year.) The couple chatted recently about the power of food memories, big-time competition and what the future holds for the company. The phrase “nostalgic taste” is part of the company tagline. What do those words mean to you? PHIL: I grew up in a single-parent household and was often on my own for
meals when my mom was working, so I was a fast-food junkie. I grew up on every brand of burger you can think of. I’d eat that at least once, sometimes twice or even three times a day. So the idea of a good fast-food burger and the nostalgia around that, as we transitioned to become 100% plant based in our own diet a decade ago, it was something I missed. DANEA: Burgers and fries weren’t quite the thing for me. I grew up with primarily vegetarian parents. When we would go to fast food, I would get the side salad. With Burger Patch, we recognized the need for something that brings back memories but is healthier and more friendly to the environment and animals and our bodies. Fast food is notorious for the waste it produces, particularly all the packaging. How are you addressing that? PHIL: Being kind is core to our ethos, and that’s not just to animals and
people but to the planet. From the beginning, it was a conscious decision on our part to create as sustainable packaging as possible. Our trays are compostable; our bags are made with 100% recycled materials. The challenge is for the packaging industry to keep up with what we’re trying to accomplish when it comes to sustainability.
Lori Diaz doesn’t mince words when it comes to her baking. “I somehow accidentally stumbled upon making the best chocolate chip cookies there ever has been, and I say that with equal parts humility and bragging, and understanding that anyone who bakes cookies is going to want to fight me for those words,” she says. Diaz makes her cookies in her home kitchen in East Sacramento and sells them through her website (hue leawelas.com). Her version of the classic gets an upgrade by way of a disk of dark chocolate that’s placed in the center before baking, creating a luscious “river of chocolate” that melts over the top of the cookie. Then, the crowning glory: a sprinkle of sea salt. “I want your mouth to water just thinking about these cookies,” says Diaz. “You just need the smallest little sprinkle to balance out the richness and give you a break from the other flavors.” Diaz’s cottage business, Huele THE NAME HUELE A a Wela’s, is a product of the WELA’S —SPANISH FOR COVID era, when her part-time SMELLS LIKE GRANDMA’S— job in a dental office came to a IS AN HOMAGE TO LORI halt. The name—Spanish for DIAZ’S GRANDMOTHER, Smells Like Grandma’s—is an HER ANCHOR DURING A homage to Diaz’s grandmother, TURBULENT CHILDHOOD. Milagro, who died in 2019 and was Diaz’s anchor during a turbulent childhood. “My mom was an addict, so the time I spent with my grandmother probably saved me from going down the path that some of my family members did,” explains Diaz. “I found a lot of solace and peace in that kitchen, but what I really learned in that kitchen was how to cook.” Her grandmother wasn’t much of a baker, says Diaz: “She was more about rice and beans and roasted pork, a lot of traditional Puerto Rican dishes. We called it poor man food.” But everything Milagro cooked conveyed the message that food can make a bad day better. “Serving someone a good meal is a way of saying I love you without the words,” Diaz says. “That is why I named my business what I did, because there is something truly soothing and heartwarming about my memories of walking into her apartment in Brooklyn. It was warm, it was familiar, it was comfortable.”—CATHERINE WARMERDAM
McDonald’s recently announced that it will be testing out a plant-based burger 2021. Do you have concerns about the competition? PHIL: We’re excited that all the big chains have started to adopt this. Our
goal was never to be a niche product. It was to create something that would become mainstream. We hope that someday soon you’ll go to a Burger Patch not because it’s plant based, but because it’s the best burger.
make sure we have a really smart and successful business model before we grow too fast. We’ve been very clear on focusing in Northern California for the foreseeable future. I get weekly requests not just from around the country but from around the world from people who want Burger Patch in their town. We’ll continue to listen. Right now, it’s really important that we grow smart and steady. DANEA: From the first moment that we sat down to write the business plan, we wanted Burger Patch to be a values-based business. This was never about how quick or how big we could get Burger Patch to be. We want Burger Patch to amplify the values that we hold and that our customers hold, too.—Catherine Warmerdam
92
Lori Diaz
Gabriel Teague (2)
Where do you see the business 10 or 20 years from now? PHIL: I think our growth will continue to be dictated by demand. We want to
SACRAMENTO MAGAZINE February 2021
Taste 0221.indd 92
1/12/21 9:21 AM