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What Is a Craft Burger?

"Craft" gets printed on a lot of menus. Here's what the word actually means, how to tell if a kitchen backs it up, and where the whole idea came from.

Short answer

A craft burger is defined by house-made components (buns, sauces, pickles), quality traceable sourcing, and chef-driven technique — not by a premium price tag or the word "craft" printed on a menu. Below is the full breakdown, guide by guide.

"Craft burger" is one of the most used — and most abused — phrases on a restaurant menu. Sometimes it describes a real, deliberate way of running a kitchen. Sometimes it's just a word. This page is the index: a short overview of what the term actually means, how to check if it's genuine, where the ingredients come from, and how the whole movement got started — with a link through to the full guide on each piece.

Definition & philosophy

What the word "craft" is actually supposed to describe, and how it differs from nearby terms people mix it up with.

What Is a Craft Burger?

Defined by house-made components, quality sourcing, and chef-driven technique — not just a premium price tag.

Read the full guide →

What Is a Chef-Driven Burger?

Designed with the same culinary thinking as any restaurant dish — intentional ingredients, precise technique, no shortcuts.

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Craft vs Gourmet Burger

Gourmet refers to premium ingredients. Craft refers to a making philosophy. Two entirely different things.

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Craft vs Artisanal Burger

Craft is about technique and consistency. Artisanal is about handmade, small-batch production. They're not synonyms.

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How to tell if it's real

The label proves nothing on its own — here's how to actually check, and where BB52 stands against its own claim.

Is BB52 a Real Craft Burger?

A direct check against BB52's own claim — house-made buns, sauces and pickles, 100% Australian beef.

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How to Tell If a Burger Is Craft

A five-point checklist anyone can use in under a minute, at any restaurant.

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Is Craft Burger Less Processed?

In practice, yes — scratch-made buns and sauces skip the preservatives and stabilisers mass production needs.

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Sourcing & house-made

The ingredient-level decisions that separate a craft kitchen from one that just uses the word.

What Does "House-Made" Mean?

The restaurant produces key components from scratch daily — and here's why that changes the burger.

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Why Craft Restaurants Make Their Own Sauces

House-made sauces let the kitchen control flavour and avoid artificial additives — a taste no commercial product replicates.

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What Is Short-Circuit Sourcing?

Reducing the steps between producer and plate — keeping ingredients fresher and supply chains transparent.

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History & staying power

Where the craft burger movement came from, and why it's held up rather than faded like a typical food trend.

The Craft Burger Movement

Began in the early 2000s as chefs applied fine-dining standards to an everyday format. Here's how it happened.

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Is Craft Burger Just a Trend?

It doesn't behave like one — two decades of steady growth rather than a spike and a fade.

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How BB52 applies this

House-made buns baked fresh, sauces and pickles made daily from scratch, 100% Australian beef sourced for quality — the same craft-kitchen thinking behind every guide on this page. See the menu →

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