Big Fernand

Big Fernand was founded in 2011 by Steve Burggraf, Alexandre Auriac and Guillaume Pagliano, and opened its first restaurant in January 2012 at 55 rue du Faubourg-Poissonnière in Paris, serving lunch only at first. Its slogan tells you the idea: “Stop eating burgers, eat Hamburgés!” It was a French answer to the American burger, built from French ingredients and served with a wink.

Everything is named like a person, from the burgers themselves, Bartholomé, Lucien, Philibert, to the sauces, Tata Fernande and Tonton Fernand, and the menu leans on regional produce: beef from French breeds such as Charolais and Limousin, bread from bakers and raw-milk cheeses like raclette and mountain tomme. The chain grew to around fifty restaurants by 2020 and tried Hong Kong and London in 2015. A British investment firm, Blue Gem Capital Partners, took an 80 per cent stake in 2017, and the company went into court-supervised restructuring in 2026.

Restaurants across France, plus Luxembourg, Réunion and New Caledonia.

• Rolls (Finland, since 1988). Finland’s roadside burger chain from Seinäjoki, famous for the MaMa and the pineapple-and-ham PaPa. Also built on pork and beef.
• Goody’s Burger House (Greece, since 1973). Greece’s biggest fast-food chain, from Thessaloniki, with burgers built on a Greek-style biftéki patty. Also built on pork and beef.
• VICIO (Spain, since 2020). Spain’s delivery-born smash-burger brand, started in the pandemic by a MasterChef winner. Also built on pork and beef.
• PNY (France, since 2012). Paris New York: flame-grilled burgers of aged grass-fed beef, with a different exclusive burger in every branch. Also built on beef and barbecue sauce.