How Melbourne ex-McDonald’s worker made $30m from flipping burgers

He left home when he was 16 and worked in fast food and as a labourer but eventually went on to create a multimillion dollar business.

A former fast food worker who started out on just $9 per hour has managed to create his own booming burger business raking in $30 million each year.

Hash Tayeh, 31, became an Australian citizen when he was a baby after his family fled the Gulf War in Jordon.

His family then relocated to Qatar several years later because of a job opportunity for his dad, where he was sent to military school.

As soon as he graduated in 2007, he convinced his parents to send him to visit family in Melbourne, but he didn’t plan on returning.

Mr Tayeh then worked multiple jobs to support himself including at McDonald’s until he stumbled upon a lucrative idea – Burgertory.

As the rest of the hospitality sector languished during Melbourne’s many lockdowns, Mr Tayeh took the unprecedented step to open more stores around the city.

“The advice I’d gotten since day one is you’re crazy,” the entrepreneur told news.com.au.

“I think I can see things other people don’t.”

Indeed, he proved his critics spectacularly wrong; last year, he sold a whopping $30 million worth of burgers.

Hash Tayeh, right, when he was younger.

Mr Tayeh arrived in Melbourne when he was 16 and recalled his parents being “furious” when he told them he wasn’t coming back to Qatar.

“I was in a military academy. My parents put me there because I was always a bit of a handful, bit of a trouble maker,” he admitted.

The then-teenager started working multiple jobs including at McDonald’s, where he was paid a pittance of just $9 per hour.

He also landed minimum wage jobs at Melbourne’s Luna Park and in manual labour.

“I was trying to find who I wanted to be and save up some money,” he said.

Using the cash he had managed to get together, at age 17 he started an electronics company, selling phone chargers and knock-off mobiles.

He could afford this with such little money because he used a drop shipping method, where he only ordered the products after they had been paid for by a customer.

A year later, just after he had turned 18, he sold the business for $200,000.

Using that capital, he went from one venture to another until he finally leveraged his way into the huge undertaking that was Burgertory.

Mr Tayeh got married last year and has a kid on the way.

His burger joint made $30 million in revenue in 2021.

Using the $200,000 he had acquired, Mr Tayeh then took another gamble and spent the money starting a doughnut company.

He supplied cafes and petrol stations with his products and in another stroke of good luck, his gamble paid off.

He sold the business for $1.2 million back in 2013.

But he didn’t stop there. Next, he scored a deal with EzyMart to roll out their convenience stores in Melbourne.

“People have said to me ‘Whatever you touch turns to gold’,” he joked.

But he hit a snag that turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

“I had an EzyMart in Footscray, across the road there was another store that got shut down because of health and safety reasons. 7/11 put in a bid,” he said.

Had 7/11 moved into that location, it would have been bad for his business.

So Mr Tayeh quickly put in a bid for the commercial property himself, which he won.

“I turned it into a pizza and pasta [place]. We quickly became one of the most popular pizza shops in Footscray.”

They were so popular, in fact, that real estate agents invited him to open another pizzeria in a local shopping centre.

“I said I’m only willing to open up if I’m allowed two more shops [in the shopping centre]. I wanted a coffee kiosk and a burger store.”

And so Burgertory was born.

Mr Tayeh opened both his passion projects side-by-side.

The burger chain has expanded massively since the pandemic began.

Burgertory opened up in 2018.

Although Mr Tayeh’s other business ventures had been a success, this one was a whole class of its own.

“Burgertory flew, it did amazing,” he said. “With pizza it doesn’t really have a point of difference, the quality is in the dough which most people can’t taste.

“But [my] burgers had a point of difference, they were very photogenic and Instagram-able.”

As Covid-19 lockdowns forced restaurants to resort to takeaway only, Mr Tayeh again noticed a gap in the market – people were crying out for good food nearby.

“People were only allowed in 5 kilometre limits, [which] gave me the opportunity to open locally,” he explained.

Between 2020 and the end of 2021, Mr Tayeh opened 14 stores.

Before the pandemic they only had three stores in Melbourne.

Just this month, they opened up another store in Box Hill.

He works about 50 hours a week and toiled away as much as 20 hours a day when his businesses were in their very early stages.

For other aspiring entrepreneurs, Mr Tayeh had a word of advice: “You don't have to live life dictated on the vision your parents have, sometimes you have to step out of line.”