1-Month-Old Affton Breakfast & Burger Now Beats 3-Year-Old Boardwalk Café in Sales

Affton Breakfast & Burger has the same menu and owner as the well-known Boardwalk Café, in Webster Groves.

Breakfast & Burger opened its doors a month ago at 10024 Gravois Road, and already has passed up the three-year-old Webster restaurant in sales. The burgers are the reason.

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“Four guys–all we do is cook burgers, especially from 11:45 to close,” owner Ismail Ilhan said. He has 17 tables and a lunch crowd with a limited time to eat, and most order burgers. The restaurant is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. seven days a week.

“Just to cook that burger, if you want a decent fresh burger, takes 10 minutes, and usually people don’t have that much time,” Ilhan said.

He'd love to build up the breakfast crowd to spread out the business. “That’s what I’m famous for,” he said.

He said on any day whatever people start ordering, everyone in the room sees it and it starts a run.

“Two days ago all we were selling was turkey club because everybody saw those turkey clubs, so everybody ordered turkey clubs,” he said. “If they see we are selling breakfast, see those omelets or skillets, then everybody orders omelets or skillets.”

Still, burgers are the leader, Ilhan said. He has beef delivered three times a week to the Affton restaurant, and once a week to Webster Groves.

He said his plan was to start slow.

“We’ll adjust, I’ll train the cooks, but then it hit us,” he said. “Thank God I had some experience. We adjusted really fast.”

Also in Patch:

• Affton Breakfast & Burger Opened on Monday: "Burgers Right and Left"
• Affton Diner Hangs In There With Competition Next Door
• County Councilman: Thrift Store Not "Good Fit" for Affton