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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
National
Susie Beever & Alice Suffield

Burger stall boss reveals how he still keeps price at just £1 amid soaring food prices

The prospect of a meal for under £1 in this economic climate probably invokes images of celery sticks or a measly bag of crisps.

But a hot food stand just off Blackpool's promenade is continuing to attract hungry bellies on a budget due to its £1 burgers.

The one pound quarter pounders are just one of the few remaining foot outlets in the country which hasn't been forced to push up its prices as the cost of living bites.

Higgit's Las Vegas Arcade has made a name for itself in recent years, even becoming YouTube famous.

But despite the raised profile, owner Chris Higgit has raised his prices and still beckons peckish tourists with the promise of a meal for one British pound - that's less money than a Greggs sausage roll.

Despite the cost of living crisis, Chris Higgit hasn't pushed up the price of his patties (Lancs Live/MEN Media)

Mr Higgit told LancsLive that it "helped" his rent was a fraction of what he would face around the corner on the town's iconic seafront.

"Because I have such a big presence on social media, people physically come to find me," he said.

Burger flipper Chris also claims his secret to economising was to "burn spices into the plate".

"The plate is black and at the start of every shift I grind spices on to the plate and burn them on so it marinates and goes into the food.

"It's just normal burgers but I make sure that the plate is marinated so all those spices have to go straight into the burgers. That's the secret of the famous £1 burger!"

The Blackpool £1 burger has become something of a social media phenomenon, which has helped enormously with Chris' sales (Lancs Live/MEN Media)

A quick search of 'Blackpool's £1 burger' on platforms such as YouTube and Instagram brings up reams of videos - some of which have nearly a million views - of takeaway fans trying the purse-friendly patties.

Mr Higgit claimed his most recent YouTube video he was featured in was on track to hit one million views by the end of the week.

The arcade has also made its way on to a number of TV stations including Channel 5, UK Gold, and many more.

"Being two streets back [from Blackpool Promenade] doesn't matter, because people come to find me," he added.

Chris claims he has managed to achieve the impressive feat of keeping his running costs the same as they did back in 2021.

"It's about volume, purely about volume," he said.

Chris claims his running costs haven't changed since 2021 (Lancs Live/MEN Media)

"The two biggest costs in this establishment are me, because of the cost of my labour, and the electricity.

"The electricity costs the same if the grills are on and I cook one burger, or if I cook 500 burgers, so it's all about the number of burgers.

"If I buy in bulk I can also get discount from the warehouse, so I can go in and get volume discounts. So where other places will be doing four or five burgers a day, I'll be doing 100."

Chris says he doesn't see what he's doing as success, but purely creating a living for himself and doing something that he loves.

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