Eure. Lucas is winning over customers with his new burger concept

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Lucas Sergent loves challenges. But the goals, “I don’t set them for myself in the evening before going to sleep,” he smiles. No, when he sets himself challenges, the 22-year-old young man talks about them in the presence of a witness, and in front of a journalist what's more.

A year ago, he told the Norman Awakening his intention to open a restaurant in Bernay to allow young people to eat well with homemade dishes. But he was ultimately unable to settle in the building he initially wanted. And no other place seemed ideal to him.

“This project is still realistic, but it represents significant investments for someone my age, especially without partners. The risks were too great to settle in a place that is not positioned in a strategic axis,” he analyzes.

Caramelizing the Steak

With a degree in digital marketing and communication, this resident of Nassandres-sur-Risle, who arrived in Normandy at the age of 10, was able to bounce back. Rather than in Bernay, it was in Beaumont-le-Roger that his restaurant was opened on November 1, 2024.

It's a city where I have my consumer habits. I wondered what food to sell and for what audience. There is no high school here, the target is no longer the same, but there are businesses that are doing well. And looking at the offer already present, I realized that there were kebabs and pizzas, but no burgers.

Located on Place de l'Église, in a former butcher's shop closed for more than a year, the establishment is called Youngan American-sounding name to embody a concept from the United States and popular in Paris, but still largely unknown in more rural areas, that of the “smash burger”.

The steak is not served thick, but crushed cold with a mortar on a very hot griddle. “The texture is perfect and this method produces a caramelization on the outside of the steak, it almost crisps and the taste is great,” salivates the boss.

The cheeseburger is accompanied by fries cooked in beef fat, all for €8.40 (or €10.40 for the double cheeseburger).

Local products

The meathe bought it from a craftsman located 50 m away. Potatoes come from Pont-Audemer. And the breadthe composition of which was considered for several months, is specially prepared by a baker from Serquigny.

Between the restaurant opened in Beaumont-le-Roger and the one planned a year ago in Bernay, the town has changed, as has the concept, but the values ​​remain the same : cooking local products, “with top quality, worthy of bistronomy”, offering “reasonable prices in the fast food niche”.

“I prefer to sell at €8.40 rather than €15 to allow people to come twice a week,” he says about his economic model. In a deliberately tight menu, the entrepreneur also imagined the “Handle yourself”everyone is free for €9.40 to create their own burger and choose as they wish onions, bacon, tomatoes, grilled mushrooms, pickles, etc.

“With around ten foods, there are plenty of variations depending on your mood,” he says, with the aim of satisfying “good eaters”. The delicious tiramisuavailable as a dessert, is also homemade.

“Families, the main target”

With twelve seats, the restaurant focuses above all on takeawayapproximately 90% of turnover. Workers at lunchtime, college students on Wednesdays, groups of friends in the evening or retirees at the weekend… The clientele is varied.

“The main target is families, when people don’t want to cook and prefer to order,” says Lucas Sergent, happy with the beginnings and regular flow.

Many customers tell me that they would buy our burgers even if they cost one or two euros more. We have made the effort to have a cheaper price range, the idea is to maintain it.

“Breathing a Spirit”

If he relies on an employee to prepare the hamburgers, the young boss wants to have a foot in the kitchen.

“I developed the recipes and I want to instill a spirit, share what the customers feel. The watchword is to never lower your level », specifies the one who also works with a work-study student in BTS 18-year-old Nathan, to whom he teaches the basics of management and negotiation with suppliers.

I consider him a collaborator, I listen to his opinions, he is free to ask his questions and I do not hide problems from him. We are in a company on a human scale and participative management seems much more suitable to me.

The days are sometimes stressful, he confides, but “but I react quite well to pressure”. “And I need to put myself in risk zone to give the best of myself. »

L’ambition which was his a year ago continues to guide him. If the restaurant in Beaumont-le-Roger is a success, the concept could well be duplicated in larger towns.

“The best promoters are customers », he recalls. And from this point of view, Lucas Sergent has reason to rejoice. On Googlethe rave reviews keep coming, with an overall rating of 4.9 out of 5. Enough to make him say that “people are won over”.

Mashle, 16 Place de l’église, Beaumont-le-Roger; 02 32 43 35 79. Open from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. and from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. Closed Monday and Thursday.

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