Are There Too Many Burgers on the Menu?

There is nothing wrong with a good burger. Whether it is a classic beef burger, a crispy chicken burger or a thoughtfully made vegetarian alternative, a burger can be a satisfying and reliable choice when eating out.

In a specialist burger bar or an American-style barbecue restaurant, customers naturally expect to find an extensive selection. 

Burgers are central to the identity of such establishments, so plenty of choice makes perfect sense.

But have burgers become far too dominant on the menus of ordinary pubs, cafés and other food and drink venues?

One well-known pub chain, which shall remain nameless, currently offers no fewer than 16 different burgers. That is a remarkable amount of menu space devoted to variations on essentially the same meal: something served inside a bun, generally accompanied by chips.

Customers may be offered beef burgers with bacon, cheese, barbecue sauce, chilli, fried onions or several of those ingredients piled together. There may also be chicken, plant-based and double or triple versions. Although these dishes have different names, how much genuine variety do they really provide?

Meanwhile, many traditional favourites appear to have vanished.

Why are there so few chicken pies, ham pies or turkey pies? What happened to dishes such as ham, egg and chips, liver and onions, sausage casserole, cottage pie, Lancashire hotpot or a proper ploughman’s lunch? Even relatively simple options such as filled jacket potatoes, substantial salads and sandwiches can be surprisingly difficult to find.

Burgers undoubtedly offer practical advantages to pubs and restaurants. The ingredients can be standardised, preparation is relatively straightforward and numerous menu variations can be created from the same basic stock. They are also familiar, easy to advertise and generally popular.

However, allowing burgers to dominate a menu risks making the dining experience rather dull. Offering 16 burgers does not necessarily mean customers are being given 16 meaningfully different choices. Four or five good burgers alongside pies, casseroles, fish dishes, salads and traditional pub meals might provide much greater variety.

There is also the danger that pub menus are becoming increasingly interchangeable. When every venue offers several burgers, fried chicken, pizza and chips, much of the individual character disappears. A visitor could travel from Shropshire to Cornwall or Yorkshire and encounter almost exactly the same dishes.

Perhaps pubs should concentrate less on the number of toppings that can be squeezed into a bun and spend more time rediscovering regional dishes, traditional pies and imaginative home-style cooking.

Burgers certainly deserve a place on the menu. The question is whether they deserve quite so many places.

What do you think? Are 16 burgers excessive, or do you welcome having plenty of burger options? Which neglected pub dishes would you like to see make a comeback?