SPLICED LIFE /
ISSUE 01
FEATURE / Burger Barons
Burger
Barons
by Pippa Tshabalala
The Balkan Burger Bar and Bus traditional Serbian burgers in the
heart of the city
W
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hat sets a good burger apart from your standard, run of
the mill takeaway burger? A combination of innovation,
perseverance and of course, a taste explosion!
It’s a fairytale story. Brother and sister Bojan
and Lidija Ivanoviç arrived to meet friends at the
trendy Neighbourgoods Market in Braamfontein,
Johannesburg one day to find all the food sold out
before lunchtime. Over a drink and some overpriced
cheese they discussed what they would be able to sell
to take advantage of this opportunity, and a few weeks
later they were selling what have since been dubbed
“the best burgers in town”.
Photography by Tim Hulme
How did this happen? Well, we should probably
go back to the beginning. The Ivanoviç’s immigrated
to South Africa from Serbia to escape the war when
Lidija and Bojan were only children. While they were
educated in South Africa, their family never lost
their ties to their Serbian heritage. Flash forward and
Lidija has spent sleepless nights thinking about the
Neighbourgoods Market and a potential business
opportunity. She roped the entire family into the pitch,
asking her mother to prepare a variety of Serbian food,
her father to organise the logistics and her brother
to sell their Balkan food idea to the Neighbourgoods
Market. And it worked! They absolutely loved it!