Burger heaven for overnight campers

Self-described “food lover” Joshua Bullock camped out for 20 hours on February 13 to ensure he was first in the queue when Carl’s Junior opened its Docklands store.

Mr Bullock, 36, lived in the US as a high-school basketballer and developed quite a passion for the hamburger outlet. Some 20 years of cravings made sure he wasn’t going to miss out on the opportunity of free burgers for a year.

He travelled on the train from Seymour with Joanne Wickham the day before – arriving at 11am and staying the night (sleeping on the red carpet) before being rewarded with the first burger at about 8.30am on February 14.

The new outlet under the Southern Star Observation Wheel made the “free burger every week for a year” offer to the first 50 patrons.

Glen Iris resident Marie Taylor achieved fourth place in the line. She explained that her interest was more about participating in a unique experience.

“I’ve never tried one,” she said. “For me it’s about creating memories.”

For Americans Carl and Sandra Wenz, it was the third time they’ve been in the top 50, having been first at Victoria’s first Carl’s Junior outlet at Knox and third for the chain’s Cranbourne debut.

With the vouchers being transferrable to other stores, the Pakenham couple are eyeing off a chance to dine out four times a week by attempting to be among the winners when a Ballarat store opens at the end of March.

Offering the benefit of his intimate knowledge, Carl told Docklands News that a Western Bacon cheeseburger with crispy cut fries “couldn’t be beat”.

The chain’s vice-president franchise operations and development Asia, Brad Sommer, said the brand was moving its Asian headquarters from Singapore to Melbourne.

He said there would be 30 more stores here in the next four or five years and that the brand would employ “a couple of thousand” people.

Mr Sommer said some 80 local people would be employed at the Docklands outlet.

And it appears that the local contingent are made of stern stuff too. In the lead-up to the opening, fire sprinklers were accidently set off – resulting in a flooded kitchen.

For the overnight campers though, the opening went smoothly. Mr Bullock was reportedly well satisfied with his reward. The look on his face tells the story.