Meet Brenna Velcich of Burger Antics in Brookfield

Today we’d like to introduce you to Brenna Velcich.

Brenna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Burger Antics started out as a little kitchen inside of an already established dive bar in Countryside, IL. With a focus on hand crafted burgers made with fresh ingredients and everything made from scratch we slowly but surely started making waves. Within the first 6 months of being open we were on Chicagos Best which featured our Hotter Than Hell Burger. Soon after that Dan (my husband and co owner) and I realized it was time to move into our own location and leave that dive bar behind. After an extensive search we found the perfect location in Brookfield. We were drawn to it’s exposed brick, large kitchen, and it’s convenient location next to the metra. We officially opened our doors in April 2015 with an extensive craft beer menu and whiskey wall with over 160 whiskeys and counting.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Hell no. After deciding to move from the dive bar into our own location by ourselves it was extremely difficult to find a new location for BA.

Then after finding the location the build out into converting it into our space took a good 4 months with some stalls here and there with contractors and permits.

Our staffing also multiplied from 2 to 24 people. Handling a staff that large and detailed was pretty tricky at first.

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Burger Antics – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
I am the Executive Chef & Owner of Burger Antics. All our food is prepared fresh in house, right down to the ketchup & mustard. We try to source as much meat & produce from local distributors, growers, & farmers as possible. We are committed to being a responsible business that cares more about our customers & our planet than our bottom line.

We are known for our 9oz patties that are cooked properly to temperature when they are ordered. Our burgers range from simple burgers like BBQ, bacon, cheddar with grilled onions to different burgers like braised smoked short rib, a house made creamy peppercorn sauce, roasted parsnip, & parsley to wacky crazy weird burgers like a coffee rubbed patty topped with ghirardelli chocolate covered bacon, madagascar vanilla infused mascarpone, & a sea salted caramel crisp…(that last one with coffee just won the 2017 Brewpub Shootout.)

Those different kinds of burger set up apart because they don’t just happen infrequently.. our menu changes often we have a Burger of the Week & Menu of the Month (which includes a specialty burger served all month long).

I am so proud of how far we have come as a business Dan and I dove head first into a dream and thanks to hard work from everyone including my staff we have made Burger Antics continue to grow.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Future plans are to keep kicking ass and hopefully open another kind of restaurant in the future whether it is another Burger Antics or not it’s up in the air.. Dan and I have dreams. A food truck is definitely in the mix.

Contact Info:

• Address: 3740 Grand Blvd., Brookfield
• Website: burgerantics.com
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BurgerAntics
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/BurgerAntics