Ulrich Glemnitz and Mario Binder’s Bunte Burger in Cologne’s Ehrenfeld district is Germany’s first organic vegan burger restaurant. Celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, their success story has spread Germany-wide with two of their most popular signature patties introduced in several organic supermarkets at the end of 2020. But the business actually started on four sturdy rubber wheels.
Organic vegetable farming and the values behind it have been part of Ulrich and Mario’s lives ever since they were toddlers in Bavaria, where they grew up together. “Organic food is part of our DNA. We used to play together at Uli’s grandma’s house at the Niederfeld organic vegetable farm. She was one of the co-founders of the organic box association and one of the first to run an organic vegetable box scheme. It’s something that’s been with us our whole lives and led us to our green take on life and, ultimately, Bunte Burger,” says Mario.
Bunte Burger is the flourishing restaurant the two friends have been running for the past decade in the vibrant neighbourhood of Ehrenfeld in the city they chose to make their home – Cologne. Business is booming with vegetarians, flexitarians and even omnivores (essentially anyone who likes 100% plant-based vegan burgers) travelling by public transport, bike or foot from all over the city to eat there.
The journey from truck to restaurant
The pair’s first burgers felt the heat of the grill back in 2014. Having studied business administration and working in IT and consulting both in Germany and abroad, the two friends decided they wanted to “get off the career treadmill and introduce people to a more sustainable food lifestyle,” says Mario. The pivotal moment was when they saw a TV programme about starred chefs in food trucks peddling their wares around the globe. “We went out and bought a white van – one of the first food trucks to appear in Cologne. We put our logo and a grass border on it and off we went!”
“Back then, it felt like we were the Bill Gates of the food truck scene. In the beginning, we cooked all sorts of vegan dishes in my converted basement,” remembers Uli. “And then my grandma came back into things. Or rather my cousin, Berni, an agriculture machinery mechanic. He’d taken over her farm. He took an old Mercedes Benz truck that had a hatch window and made some modifications so it could be used to cook food. At that point, the idea of a bricks-and-mortar restaurant hadn’t even crossed our minds.” By then, the “better burger movement” had crossed the Atlantic from the US to Germany and Mario and Uli’s catering-on-wheels business was travelling from event to event while they developed their vegan recipes, layer for layer. The burgers got tastier and tastier and demand increased. One year later, they opened Bunte Burger, based on the recipe of “real flavour, free of additives and artificial flavour enhancers”. It’s gourmet-style food that’s good for you!
Organic, unmistakable, sustainable and animal-free
The “bunt” in Bunte Burger means “colourful” or “varied” and the “bunte” burgers certainly are full of colour and variety. But the “bunt” also stands for “biologisch” (organic), “unverwechselbar” (unmistakable), “nachhaltig” (sustainable) and “tierfrei” (animal-free). “Food can never be too bunt,” Mario declares. ” And ours comes with a 100% vegasm alarm.”
“Food can never be too bunt. And ours comes with a 100% vegasm alarm.”
Mario Binder, Bunte Burger
Organic buns – the new brioche
It’s only the inside of the burger that’s full of colour though – the buns don’t have any of the added colouring you find in many a hip burger joint. They’re made to Bunte Burger’s own recipe, with 60% white flour and wholemeal, and they come from a local organic bakery, DLS Mühlenbäckerei, which is part of the Demeter biodynamic farming federation. “The buns are delivered fresh from the bakery every day. They’re shaped by hand so sometimes they’re a bit flatter or a bit taller – no two look the same,” Uli explains. They’re a living product, he says, not mass-produced. “We developed this vegan burger bun ourselves right at the start. People thought it was a bit strange at first but now they won’t have anything else. The buns are firmer and not as fluffy as the usual burger brioche buns. They look more environmentally friendly, like a wholemeal roll from a good old-fashioned organic bakery,” Mario adds.
Not all meat substitutes are equal
“Our patties are 70% vegetable and we only use natural ingredients like rice flakes, Psyllium husks, chickpeas, kidney beans and beetroot as stabilising and binding agents and to add texture to the patties. There’s no isolated or textured protein,” explains Uli. In the old days, he tells us, they used to mix everything up in big tubs with a big hand blender and shape the patties by hand with a burger press. “We spent a long time getting our prototypes just right and now we have the patties produced by a supplier in southern Germany to meet demand.”
“Today, you can even buy our own-recipe vegetable patties in selected organic supermarkets across the country,” Uli adds. They do get to play around with the recipe still though as there’s a “special burger” every two months, with new patties created by the team using bulgur, green spelt or seitan. They’re made by hand.
Melt-in-your-mouth “cheese” sauce
According to Mario and Uli, cheese substitutes have come a long way but it’s still not possible to imitate the way real cheese slices melt. The results are unconvincing. “We make a smooth, thick emulsion-type cheese sauce based on a vegan cheese by Wilmersburg. We cut the cheese from a 2.5 kilo block, add soya drink and spices and heat it up in a bain-marie,” says Uli, describing the Bunte Burger solution to the problem. The cheese-like sauce stands next to the grill and a spoonful is ladled onto the patty, adding a theatrical flourish to proceedings.
Bacon crispiness with a twist
Naturally, there are no real bacon rinds at Bunte Burger. But attributes like “smokey” and “crisp”, which every burger needs, do make an appearance. They’re created by mixing a natural beetroot colouring with agar-agar (starch) and water, baking the result and then cutting it into slices. The result is as good as real bacon, that all-important layer in a burger. Fresh, caramelised red onion, fried onions and toasted sunflower seeds add crunch too. Smoked paprika and smoked salt give things a spicy boost.
A range of relishes
From (truffle) mayo, warm cheeze & curry to aioli, smokey mustard and a vegan version of the Dutch “Joppiesauce” condiment (the Bunte Burger one is made of fresh onions, their own mayo and oodles of herbs and spices), the relishes are all 100% homemade. Grated carrot and pickled gherkins lend a touch of acidity and freshness.
Regionally sourced vegetables
Only sourcing from regional organic farms within a radius of less than 50 kilometres is a point of honour for the “Bunte Burger kings”. The best way to discover the wealth of vegetables inside the burgers is to try the seasonal menu. In addition to some standard dishes, a few exotic ones offer a taste of summer all year around: for instance, the Happy Buddha with a jackfruit and red lentil patty, grilled aubergine, baked chickpeas and a homemade mango & mint chutney and lemon & tahin aioli. Mario’s favourite burger is the Forstmeister, reminiscent of Cologne brewery pub cuisine with a homemade remoulade and a mixture of crunchy carrots, white & red cabbage coleslaw and fennel. Hash browns with a creamy mushroom ragout sit upon a mushroom and red bean patty – totally umami and meaty. Ulrich loves the Joppie burger, with its sauce of the same name and lashings of fresh lettuce, tomatoes, a good dose of gherkins and, to top it all off, a combo of caramelised and fried onions.
The must-have organic fries (gluten-free) you’ll find on each and every plate come in various guises too. Customers can choose between a hint of garlic, a truffle oil dressing or spicy chilli cheese with jalapenos.
Fresh ideas
The team’s regular brainstorming frenzies produce new ideas from the sous-chefs and from customers. The Vietnamese banh mi, for instance, came about due to requests. It combines vegetables pickled in rice vinegar with spicy miso mayo and loads of fresh coriander. On Thursdays, there are vegan doner kebabs with tzatziki and Turkish bread. At the five-course fine vegan dining evenings and the vegan Sunday brunches, the tables (made from wood from Cologne’s Stadtwald forest) in front of the vertical moss garden walls are full. The furniture is an indication of the sustainable concept that pervades the business layer for layer, like a well-built burger. “The idea is for our guests to experience new flavours in the slow fast food and gourmet convenience segments and to leave us with a smile on their faces,” say the burger maestros.
Sustainability through and through
One of the ways Uli and Mario have offset their carbon footprint was to take the difficult decision to give up their food truck in 2022. In addition, as Uli explains, “We compensate for the energy needed to make our retail products by giving a lot of thought to our supply chain, from field to packaging.”
“We’re also involved in various collaborations in Germany,” he adds. One of them is the Primeval Forest Project, which is run by the academy founded by well-known tree expert Peter Wohlleben. The aim is to rewild native forests like Cologne’s Lohmacher Stadwald. Partners on the project buy the right of use from the forest owner for a period of 50 years so that the forest can be left to regenerate naturally. “As members of dasselbe in grün, an association for sustainable businesses, we support selected welfare and sustainability projects in the region and donate our leftover ingredients and products to social organisations (including ‘Foodsharing’),” the pair tell us. The two agree that the principle of the common good economy needs to be cultivated more – in terms of the economic and social aspects as well as the environmental ones – by selling vegan food in university canteens, for instance. Introducing just one vegan day per month would have an enormous impact, they say.
The future is full of colour
Mario and Uli have also made a promise to their children to make the world a better place by making it a little more colourful. Mario was very moved to hear his young son, Ole, sum up the idea behind Bunte Burger as a “colourful restaurant with good burgers”. “Perhaps,” he tells us, “I will dedicate a dessert burger to him after all. One filled with a fat pancake and apple sauce or rice pudding.”
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