Burntisland's Burger Island shortlisted for national award

Burger Island in Burntisland has been nominated as a finalist in the British Takeaway Awards, in association with Just Eat.

The move comes just weeks after the business opened a new branch in the High Street on April 26.

Locals can now enjoy sitting in for food at the premises, opposite the Silver Tassie pub, as well as ordering takeaway.

The Burger Island kiosk has been at the corner of Burntisland Links for 29 years, serving mainly seasonal visitors who arrive for the shows, but after making a few changes to the business, the owners have been successful enough to open a second outlet.

Last year when the Burntisland shows were cancelled, owners Raina and Stewart Miller decided to upgrade their usual fast food offering, by adding a range of specials and making deliveries to customers.

Now they have been shortlisted for an award and Raina said they are delighted: “It was Just Eat who nominated us.

"When you are on Just Eat you get judged every three months and if you meet all the criteria each time, you climb the ladder going bronze, silver, gold and then to local legend status.

"We moved up every time and were made local legends in the quickest possible time. Our snack bar was nominated and we found out it in March.

“We’re delighted – to be nominated for anything and just to be recognised for all the hard work we’ve put into the past year is very pleasing.”

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She continued: “To be honest we would love to win, but we’re really just happy to be put forward.

"It’s nice to know customers are happy with the changes we’ve made and are enjoying the food we put out. We’ve really got to know so many of our customers now and so many people from Burntisland who had never been to us before are now regulars.”

Raina revealed where the idea for the new shop came from:

“This year with the pandemic we knew we had to adapt the business in order to make it work. We decided to start doing deliveries and change our menu,” she said.

"We managed to do well all through the summer and winter months and this is where the idea for a shop came from.

"We’re over the moon with how we’ve been doing - it has been so much more than we hoped for. Not just in the town, but the amount of people coming from all around has been amazing. Customer feedback has been really positive."

She continued: “We never imagined this time last year that we would have opened our first restaurant. We’ve really had to work hard at this and are very proud of what we’ve managed to achieve.

"We put a lot of blood sweat and tears into opening the shop.

"We knew we were down the quieter end of the high street, so we needed to make it a destination and make the food, service and atmosphere that little bit better and thankfully so far it is paying off. “Hopefully this time next year we’ll be looking at shop number two.”

The award finals are in London on September 6.

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