The Sault’s Josh Rowat and his wife Alexis are the new co-owners of popular eatery Burger Don.
Ownership of the restaurant transferred to the Rowats in late June from Sergio and Nick Cavaliere, who also own Giovanni’s Restaurant and Fratelli’s Kitchen.
“I actually started at the dish pit at Fratelli’s. I held every position there was to hold at the three restaurants. The last step was to become an owner and now I’ve checked off that box,” Josh said in an interview with SooToday.
Prior to taking ownership of Burger Don, Josh had been the restaurant’s manager since 2021.
“It's a real honour for the Cavaliere family to trust me with the legacy. Everybody knows their legacy. They’ve been in business for 45 years serving Sault Ste. Marie some of the best food there is. It’s a good legacy to carry on. I'm honoured and I hope that I can uphold it and lift it even higher,” Josh said.
As manager, Josh had already made his mark at Burger Don in many ways, including his introduction of the restaurant’s Burger of the Month.
“When I came here to manage it, I made it my goal to buy it so I put everything I had into it. I put all my ideas into it and built up a reputation so that when I took it over it wasn't new to people. I tried to create what is already here and now I'm benefitting from it,” Josh said.
That means the Burger of the Month is here to stay.
“The Burgers of the Month are still going to be flowing. Hopefully, they get better and better every month. I don't plan on stopping that by any means,” Josh said.
This month’s Burger of the Month is Caesar's Fury.
“It’s a Caesar dressing mixed with our fire sauce on a chicken breast. It comes with bacon, parmesan cheese, Romaine lettuce and crispy banana peppers. It's a spicy, flavourful adventure,” Josh said.
Those who enjoy a Burger of the Month can now sign their names on the restaurant’s Burger of the Month Mafia board.
Old gift cards will be accepted at Burger Don for the next three years.
Josh has already started printing paper gift cards that can be used only at Burger Don.
“There's some word spreading already that we're changing over. I want to keep going with what we're doing. We have a great product and I just want to continue that and make sure everyone's getting what they expect when they come back to Burger Don.”
