Meet Chantha from Winner Winner Courtenay Place

Meet Chantha. Together with cousin Tola, they're bringing fire-roasted and fried chicken, hearty classics and sweet treats to the heart of Wellington. We spoke to Chantha just before their store opening in January and she talked to us about their Winner Winner journey and the times she’s most excited about!

How did you first get involved with the BurgerFuel Group? And what was your role with the Group?
Tola was actually the Store Manager for BurgerFuel Courtenay Place and he knew that I was looking for a new job so he got me in. I started out doing the morning set up duties for the store and one day he asked if I wanted to be his 2IC - I love a good challenge so I took the opportunity. Eventually Tola was asked to move into an operations and auditing role for our franchisee's five stores, so I ended up managing Courtenay Place for five years and became the training manager for all of our franchisee's stores too!

How long have you been with BurgerFuel Group?
I’ve been with BurgerFuel for just over 10 years and coming into our fourth month with Winner Winner!

How did you first hear about Winner Winner?
HQ always knew that we wanted to do our own thing, we’ve always been really hard workers and knew that we would never stop until we were managing a place of our own. So one day HQ approached Tola and told him about Winner Winner and asked if we would be interested. We were so curious and jumped onto the Winner Winner Instagram to see what all the fuss was about and fell in love with the menu and the aesthetics of the place.

How did your Winner Winner franchise journey begin?
So, we then flew up to Hamilton asap so we could try Winner Winner and we literally tried a bit of everything! We love the idea of sharing plates so Winner Winner really hit home for us. Over lunch, HQ pitched us the idea of owning our own and gave us the run down on what it would entail – then told us to go home and have a think about it. We loved the food and the concept and although we initially wanted to do something on our own, we knew that we would get heaps of support from a franchise! Tola and I have the operations experience but not the marketing experience, which HQ look after and make things a bit easier!

What do you like most about the Winner Winner brand?
We love the community vibe. The store vibe with the staff is just something else and they really care about the food which is something Tola and I are really passionate about – really good food.

What are you excited about?
Being able to share our great food with friends, family and the community. It’s a whole new experience. Also being my own boss and calling my own shots is pretty cool! And vacations! I already have two holidays booked in!

What is the challenge you are most looking forward to tackling at Winner Winner?
Mainly just the local store marketing experience. I want the brand to be out there and well received by the community!

What is your favourite menu item?
Banoffee Pie for sure! Haha. That is truly a hard question! I love the chicken sandwich but I love the vegan burger too. Fav salad, so far it would have to be a toss between the Kumara & Quinoa or the Maple Carrot. My favourite loaded fries are the cheese and gravy!

To follow more of Chantha and Tola’s Winner Winner journey, make sure you give them a follow @winnerwinner_courtenay.