Alex Trelinski
THE VALENCIA gourmet burger restaurant chain ‘The Fitzgerald’ plans to celebrate its tenth anniversary this year with the opening of two new wholly-owned shops plus ten franchises in Barcelona, Granada, Sevilla, Murcia and Badajoz, among others.
It aims to have a network of 50 restaurants by 2024 and one hundred outlets before 2028- it currently has 23 establishments in the Valencian Community, Albacete, and Madrid.
Two Valencian brothers, Mario and Carlos Gelabert, had a vision a decade ago to bring something new to the fast-food burger market, and they now have a company reporting a €17 million turnover in 2022 with 380 staff and 1.5 million hamburger sales.
Its turnover targets for 2023 are planned to exceed €20 million- climbing to €35 million in 2028.
In addition, it will also have a new ‘food truck’ to maintain its presence in events in Spain and will open a new line of business so that customers can enjoy hamburgers at private and corporate events with the aim of tripling burger sales.
The Gelaberts opened their first restaurant in Torrent and built up a reputation in the casual food sector, specialising in gourmet burgers.
Their second store opened in Gandia in 2015 with improved recipes and an extended menu, followed by a Castellon outlet the following year, and two restaurants in Valencia and one in Alicante opening up in 2019.
‘The Fitzgerald’ has won awards such as ‘Best Burger in Spain’ at The Champions Burger competition in Madrid and created the ‘The Fitz Truck’ to sell products at events and festivals around the country.
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