In the Kitchen with Back Yard Burgers

Angela Vega knows she has it tough.

Vega is the director of culinary and food safety at Back Yard Burgers, so she gets to tinker around in the kitchen and “come up with delicious food for our customers and taste-test everything. Yes, it’s rough,” she jokes.

Vega, who went to culinary school and has been with Back Yard Burgers for about three years at its headquarters in Nashville, is serious about constantly innovating to bring the best flavors to Back Yard customers. She doesn’t have a corporate test kitchen; instead she does all her creating at one of the local restaurants.

“It works better for executing. It’s more practical, and then we know that the food works in the actual restaurant kitchens,” she says.

Vega also comes up with training guides, writes up the recipes, hears from vendors who have new sauces and other products to tout and interacts with franchisees about which dishes are working.

“We present them with new ideas. They are a big part of the process — it's their business as well as our business,” she says of franchisees. “They are on the front lines so they know what people like.”

Vega, who has been in Nashville for about 20 years and has lived everywhere, from Texas to North Carolina, says the great thing about burgers is that they are fundamental. “Everyone eats burgers. As long as I can have the foundation of a great burger and have a great topping, then we have a winner.”

Limited time offers are a good way to experiment and see what hits home with customers. The buffalo ranch chicken sandwich, for instance, is an LTO that is doing well right now. And, sometimes an LTO is such a hit that it gets a full-time slot on the menu. That happened with the chipotle burger, for instance.

Beginning this month, Back Yard Burgers will serve up an LTO Mediterranean chicken burger with spinach, mozzarella, quinoa and peppers on flatbread. The delicious sandwich clocks in at a diet-friendly 400 calories.

An LTO salmon burger is on tap for Lent, beginning in late January or early February, she says. It will feature mojo mayo to give it an herby and citrusy flavor profile.

“We try to run the gamut of possibilities to keep the taste buds interested.”

Vega was ahead of the curve with one of her flavor experiments a few years ago — sriracha.

“One of my first projects was sriracha ketchup, but I was too ahead of the game. I wonder if I could bring that back,” she muses. “It’s tough because it has to compete with a lot of flavors in a burger. It shouldn't overpower the burger.”