High quality burgers, buns baked fresh twice a day are selling points
Published in the August 6 – 19, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
The team at MOOYAH Burgers has been busy as the restaurant has seen large crowds after opening last month.
If Morgan Hill’s Terry and Brit Ratto had any worries about opening up their MOOYAH Burgers franchise last month, the line of hungry patrons winding outside the door on the restaurant’s first day of business definitely gave them a hint that they had a recipe for success. Morgan Hill’s MOOYAH is the second in California after one in Walnut Creek, and the Rattos plan on opening a second MOOYAH in Los Gatos by the end of the year.
After Terry spent years in the construction business employed on federal government contract jobs, the couple decided to try something completely different — grilling up mouth-watering burgers to serve with hot fries and old-fashioned shakes. The Rattos spent more than a year researching various fast-casual food franchise operations, but kept gravitating back to the Plano, Texas-based MOOYAH Burgers.
“I’ve said this a zillion times, it had to be a place where I can eat, because I’m not a fast-food person,” Brit said. “So it was kind of a very easy decision for us to move into MOOYAH because they offered menu items that I would eat.”
A MOOYAH Burgers staff member helps Morgan Hill resident Nate Castillo with his order.
One of the selling points for the Rattos was the high quality of the hamburgers grilled specially to each customer’s specification. Unlike fast-food joints which are focused on getting the order to the customers at lightning speed, MOOYAH emphasizes taking the time to get the order right, Brit said.
“When people have tried these burgers, they won’t mind the little extra wait,” she said. “We can’t produce what we invested in if we have to do it quick. That’s not what we do. We wanted to invest in something that makes people say, ‘I want to go back again. I like this.’ And I think that’s what we did.”
Terry believes in a back-to-basics burger cooked for taste and not to be put in a Styrofoam box.
“I think the whole concept is somewhat based on simplicity that, you know, it’s just a burger, just fries, just a shake,” he said. “But MOOYAH has evolved into developing recipes using different meats, different seasonings, different grilling procedures to create a flavor and a texture and a juiciness that works. They experiment a lot with their buns — we have the white and wheat buns that we bake twice a day so they’re fresh every day. Just the bun to meat ratio was an evolving thing where they would try a bigger patty.”
Customers can order their burgers with extensive variety of topping and five varieties of cheeses. For customers trying to keep away from the carbs in bread, MOOYAH provides an option to put the burger on lettuce.
MOOYAH’s french fries are made every day with fresh potatoes — a choice of either Idaho or sweet — that the cooks prepare in the kitchen by washing, punching and rinsing five to seven times until all the starch is out. After being cut and dried, the fries are cooked hot and tasty for the customer.
Shakes are made with 100 percent real ice cream and come in eight tempting flavors, including Oreo, cookie dough, mint chocolate chip and strawberry banana. “There’s a decent amount of butter cream in the milkshake which makes the rich taste,” Terry said.
Friendly and courteous customer service is also important in the MOOYAH philosophy, Brit said.
“People want genuine interaction with us when they come in as guests,” she said. “And I think our guys are doing a fabulous job.”
The Rattos also believe that helping young people get their first jobs in a place that emphasizes teamwork and fun is a way to contribute to the community.
“We’ve got a great deal of support from the people of Morgan Hill,” Brit said. “We wanted to give back by hiring young people from our community. We have a large number of employees who never had a job before. It was important for us to give them the opportunity and hopefully, they have a good experience working for us. When they go off to college or get a job, they’ll know how to be treated and what kind of level of respect they should give and receive.”
For more information on MOOYAH Burgers, click HERE.
