Man behind UK’s viral restaurant reveals two key ingredients to ‘save nightlife’

EXCLUSIVE: People are still wanting to ‘go out’, but they’re wanting more than boozy club nights that will sacrifice their monthly wage in one sitting. The alternative? This burger chef thinks he’s smashed it

The bloke behind one of the most viral UK restaurants revealed two key ingredients that will ‘save nightlife’ after ‘predicting’ the death of nightclubs 10 years prior.

Hanbaagaasuuteeki is the latest smash burger joint to set up shop in London, garnering rave reviews and millions of views on social media. Despite people finding it difficult to pronounce, the restaurant, which is open daily until 11:30pm, has cracked the ever-growing complex code of getting bums on seats in a dwindling hospitality industry.

Having been open for just over 130 days, the restaurant has managed to hit the sweet – and juicy – spot of virality enticing tourists and Londoners to try the likes of the matcha burger or blue cheese kimchi patty.

However, it’s not just the American and Asian fusion of ingredients in the baps that has proved instrumental to its success, says chef and founder Fatih Alkan.

The chef, who has worked in high-end restaurants all over the world and also ran a Turkish beach club, believes that he foretold the cultural shift of ‘going out’ in the UK and how that would affect the hospitality industry.

Alkan noted the “simple” offering of a burger and a beer is much more appealing to punters of today, who are increasingly drinking less and are seeking human connection more than ever in a growing digital age.

He also shared that, despite the cost-of-living crisis, people have the desire to go out more often but with intention – not just spaffing the same amount of cash on one pricey drunken capital club night.

Speaking to the Daily Star, the Hanbaagaasuuteeki chef explained: “People don’t want to go out one weekend a month anymore, they want to go out every weekend. A burger here costs £9 and a beer costs £5, that’s £14. Simple.

“You get to come out, eat good food and socialise. What more could you want.”

It comes as data from restaurant reservations company Resy found that “90% of Gen Z diners say they enjoy communal tables”, along with 77% of the same generation researching where to eat through social media, according to a survey by Eater and Vox Media.

This follows reports that clubs are predicted to go ‘extinct’ by 2030 as several factors have caused the youth to fall out of love with dancefloors and big drinking sessions – cost-of-living and sobriety curiosity being among reasons.

As the chef mentioned, people have altered the way they socialise and the frequency they choose to do so. People no longer want to go on end of the month blow outs with their mates, Gen Z much prefer to go out more regularly but not to clubs and pubs.

It comes at a time of a dwindling hospitality industry as figures from 2023 reported 10 restaurant and pub closures every day. The findings revealed the number of licensed premises in Britain fell by 3.6% from 103,682 to 99,916 – with the figure presumed to look a lot worse now.

These shocking figures mark the bleak reality of the ‘going out’ sector as it’s the first time ever that the total has dropped below 100,000, according to figures from AlixPartners and CGA/NielsenIQ.

According to industry experts, without any immediate intervention, the UK will soon see “the end of a clubbing era that has defined generations.”

But, is this just the beginning of a new iteration of ‘going out’ for a generation that includes chit-chat, a simple bite and the genuine claim of ‘I’ll only stay out for one’?