The Lemon Leaf on Main Street will join many Cork Venues to compete for the title of Ireland’s Best Burger at the National Burger Festival from 22nd to 29th January 2018.

Burger Fest 2018, in association with Ballymaloe Relish, is kicking off next week with its celebration of the humble burger. To wash away the January blues, the people of Ireland are invited to indulge in the most creative and delicious burgers the country has to offer, as venues nationwide go burger-mad with burger-related events, tastings, challenges and demos.

Over the eight day festival, participating venues across the county are in with a chance of their signature burger being crowned Cork’s Best Burger. They will also compete against pubs, restaurants, hotels, cafés, butchers and fast food outlets nationwide for the the prestigious title of Ireland’s Best Burger. The public will get the opportunity to vote for their favourite burger using the hashtag #BurgerFest.

Over 35 venues will be participating in the Cork area, from pubs to takeaways, restaurants to hotels, cafés to butchers, including Coqbull, the Imperial Hotel, the Pantry Hotel, Hillbilly’s and Davidson Craft Butchers. And of course Sober Lane and Electric, Co-founder of Festival Crew Ernest Cantillon’s own venues, will be taking part in the festivities too as well as Kinsale’s very own Lemon Leaf.

The festival is the brainchild of the experienced and creative team behind Cork’s very own Festival Crew, who between them have over 30 years experience creating and managing large scale innovative and successful food and drinks festivals, including Oktoberfest Beag, FEAST and Cork Food Festival, each attracting up to 28,000 visitors.

Speaking about the upcoming event, Ernest Cantillon said “The Burger Festival began in Cork and we are so proud that because of its phenomenal success it has now grown to become a national event. We have some great Cork venues on board again this year and I’m looking forward to them showing the rest of the country the amazing food Cork has to offer.”

Niall O’Regan of Son of a Bun, last year’s Best Burger winner, said “It was brilliant to be involved in the festival last year and we didn’t have to think twice about signing up again this year. Not only was it great fun but it made a huge difference to our sales which is always welcomed in January. We’re confident that we can hold onto our title of Cork’s Best Burger this year and very excited to be in the running to win Ireland’s Best Burger.”

For any last minute venues wishing to join in the festivities, participation is only €95 per venue, and each venue can decide how they want to celebrate the glorious burger - by organising pop-up events, Man versus Food challenges, food demonstrations or creating their own unique daily burger specials to wow the public. The festival has a track record in driving footfall and sales during the traditionally quiet post-Christmas period, with one venue reporting burger sales up 300% last year.

For more information check out www.thefestivalcrew.com

Follow Festival Crew on Twitter @thefestcrew and on Facebook and Instagram @thefestivalcrew for updates on the exciting activities in the Cork area.