Two brothers-in-law have found a shared passion and business drive as franchisees of the brand new Burger Urge restaurant in Ripley, south west of Brisbane.

As a chef opening his own restaurant was a dream for Nirmal Singh; for Aman Singh Dhanju it was a totally new experience.

It was family that had brought them together. Aman and his wife were first to move to Ripley, from Alice Springs, and it was Nirmal’s wife who initiated their relocation, keen to be near her sister and family.

Over the years Nirmal had worked as a chef in an Indian restaurant, for Lite N Easy, ran a food truck in Dubbo with a partner, and most recently was a chef in Ipswich.

In contrast Aman has had a varied career; as a taxi driver in Alice, a prison officer, boarding school supervisor, and disability support worker. 

Now living in the same town, the pair was keen to combine forces and open their own hospitality business; they just couldn’t find a site.

“I always wanted to do something for myself, and I wanted to stay close to family so I had searched since March 2025 in the Ripley town centre but there were very few shops available – nothing for start-ups,” Nirmal explains. 

Burger Urge found the location

So when he saw a Facebook ad announcing Burger Urge would be coming to Ripley, he immediately got in touch with the franchisor.

Nirmal knew the brand from Dubbo, and liked the dine-in restaurant concept because it offers variety.

The ability for Burger Urge to secure a location, and bring their knowledge and experience to the restaurant set-up proved invaluable to the new franchisees.

As part of the franchise recruitment process the brothers-in-law attended an experience day at the Burger Urge restaurant in Wilsonton, Toowoomba.

Once they had the tick of approval from the franchisor, Nirmal and Aman underwent two months training before opening, getting to understand the operational systems and processes, and clarify the leadership and team management responsibilities. 

It was decided that Aman would handle the customer service while Nirmal would exercise his hospitality skills behind the scenes.

Getting franchisor support

Before opening, the pair hosted a family and friends day, and used the experience to fine-tune the training, and the processes.

“We worked out how will we get the orders, how will we cook it, and we chose who would work on each station. It was a brand new team, and we had lots of help from Burger Urge to get the team ready,” Nirmal says.

They opened the restaurant mid-week on 21 May, Nirmal’s birthday.

“It was the first time I had worked on my birthday, I always take the day off. But this year I was so happy to be working in our restaurant!” he says.

“Burger Urge has a really good week-by-week plan for promotions, they were killing it. Whenever we needed support, we got it,” he adds. “The field team is always there, always happy to help.”

The team encourages local area marketing, and this is a role that Aman is now handling.

One technique to establish a reputation and develop customer loyalty is through building relationships with other local businesses and organisations – shops, schools, hospitals.

“We offer emergency services a discounted meal if they come to the restaurant in their uniform. We want to pay them back for the service they do for the people,” Nirmal says.

Building up customer loyalty

The restaurant has already scored a 4.8 Google rating, and is enjoying plenty of repeat custom.

“A lot of local people are very supportive, and people are coming back for the great burgers,” Nirmal points out.

“And Aman knows how to deal with people. He’s really good at dealing with customers. They come for the food but they come as a guest and they leave as a friend.”

Burger Urge often themes its restaurants to reflect local culture; however, for this new and developing suburb, the basic design package that includes skateboards and merchandise displays was the perfect solution.

“Ripley is a developing area and South Ripley is booming; that was the reason to get into the market, and make our name before it boosts.

“We are hitting the target numbers, sometimes above, so we are very happy. I can see our numbers growing because the community is still growing,” he says.

“I’ve made two really good decisions for my family; we came to Ripley, and we took on Burger Urge as a business,” Nirmal says.