Ubrioche bread, several slices of bacon, a huge slice of fried onion, dripping mature English cheddar and Aubrac minced steak from Aveyron. At Kokomo Cantine, we absolutely do not skimp on quantity or quality.
For eleven years, on Place Fernand-Lafargue in Bordeaux, Kokomo, founded by chef Damien Menaldo, has been offering “uninhibited” Californian cuisine focusing mainly on burgers. “We are trying both to stand out from the French burger brands, and to show that we can make burgers without being fast food, with high quality products,” explains Kevin Marghem, director of establishments. from the Bordeaux group Dining Room.
Symbol of a formula that works, the delivery platform Deliveroo has placed its “bestseller”, “the Beast”, in 11th position in its top 30 France for “favorite dishes” sold on the application. Also note the presence in 29th place of the Santosha de Bordeaux pad thai, also located on Place Fernand-Lafargue. “We are always a little surprised by this ranking, basically, we are just a small neighborhood restaurant,” summarizes the director modestly, especially since the first ten places are monopolized by Parisian restaurants.
“Up to 600 burgers per day”
Thus, since 2017, dozens of delivery men have been crowding in front of the storefront every day. “We must have 80 orders per day, not counting the more than 200 seats. » That’s around 350 burgers sold on average every day during the week, a figure that can rise to 600 during busy weekends.
Despite this top and this frantic production, the restaurant is seeing the beginning of a slight decline in delivery. “Post-covid, we had a lot of deliveries, but for some time now, we have seen that habits are changing. It is expensive, and people prefer the atmosphere of the establishment and the terrace. »
A living place
Especially since Place Fernand-Lafargue, which became pedestrianized last summer, is gradually evolving into a stronghold for Bordeaux street food, with its bars (Apollo, Saint-Christophe) and restaurants (Faina , Rôtisserie Poulette, Umami…) Moreover, the Dining Room group is taking a big part of this with the recent openings of Bimbo, specializing in falafels and ice creams, and the bar Le Motel, with decor reminiscent of balls.
“The place has changed a lot, at the beginning, it looked more like a parking lot!” remembers Kevin Marghem. Since she became a pedestrian, it’s been great. People sit down, eat on the terrace or on the benches. With the Argentinian restaurant, or the new rotisserie, the square has almost become the “food” square of Bordeaux. »
In addition to the Saint-Paul district, since 2023 the burger establishment has been attempting a – barely – more exotic adventure with the opening of Kokomo All Day, rue Saint-Rémi, just a few hundred meters away.
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