OUR STORY
THE BEGINNING
JOHN’S BURGER BOX STAND @ KIEL WEEK
John’s Burger Box opened up at the very large Kiel Week festival in 2011. With little experience, we were able to produce a burger which left people hungry for more. Although only open for 10 days, we sold 1,700 burgers, and because of our popularity, the City of Kiel requested that we come back for Kiel Week 2012,
In 2012, John’s Burger Box sold 3,000 burgers, and the demand grew as the Box would see an increase in sales in 2013 and 2014. In fact, in 2014, the Burger Box sold out every day with hours to spare. The demand during peak times was so great that we even had waiting times of more than 30 minutes, but people still waited, at a festival!
TO BUILD OR NOT TO BUILD
FINDING OUR FIRST LOCATION
Through the operation of John’s Burger Box, our product, service and atmosphere gained a very strong reputation in the Kiel community, and many people requested that we open a permanent establishment so the city could experience the great offerings and service each and every day.
In November 2014, as we were going from space to space in Kiel looking for a location to open the first permanent John’s Burgers restaurant, we came across an abandoned bakery space in a residential neighborhood near the university. Talking to the real estate broker, he described how the space had been vacant for years as it was not in an ideal location, not the right size for a restaurant or another retail offering, too much work to restore the space, etc. Being New Yorkers and having spent years in smaller restaurants situated within residential townhouses, we instead saw great potential in the space,
We signed the lease in the beginning of 2015, and with it, the official start of John’s Burgers.
WELCOME TO JOHN’S BURGERS!
GUTENBERGSTRAßE 16
After a buildout of approximately six months, John’s Burgers officially opened in August 2015 to much fanfare.
As in any new business, there were initial growing pains, but since Day One, our team has consisted of a group of people who are dedicated to making this business a success. Through their hard work and perseverance, the first John’s Burgers restaurant has been a success and has garnered a great loyal following as well as prominence within the wider Schleswig-Holstein region with a number of major media and press recognitions including an extensive documentary on NDR.
JOHN’S BURGERS ON WHEELS
THE FIRST JOHN’S BURGERS FOOD TRUCK
With the success of the first restaurant, we wanted to expand John’s Burgers which lead to the purchase of a food truck at the end of 2016.
The food truck gave us the ability to reach more communities in and beyond Kiel including our participation in food truck events that brought us together with other like-minded ventures that looked to offer high quality food offerings at reasonable prices!
THE REBIRTH OF JOHN’S BURGER BOX
JOHN’S BURGER BOX @ BLÜCHERPLATZ
In August 2017, we came upon an ideal location in Kiel that we knew we could not pass up – a former döner kebab restaurant near Blücherplatz, a wealthy residential area in Kiel that was screaming for a new, high quality food offering. We quickly signed a lease and made renovations to the location, and in December 2017, we opened the second John’s Burgers location as John’s Burger Box!
Since its opening, the community has embraced the new location, and we are honored to be have more loyal customers!
KEEP ON ROLLING
MORE JOHN’S BURGERS FOOD TRUCKS
With the demand for more locations and catering events, we knew we needed to quickly increase our reach to better serve our loyal community.
We saw the best path forward was to expand our mobile locations and therefore, we invested in three more food trucks - each in 2019, 2021 and 2022. We are proud to provide the same high quality burgers and service at our food trucks as we do in our restaurants!
EAT FRESH, EAT LOCAL
THE JOHN’S BURGERS EU-CERTIFIED PRODUCTION KITCHEN
As we continued in our goal to provide the freshest, best burgers to as many people we could reach, we hit our capacity in the small burger production facility we had established. We needed a bigger space.
In June 2021, we built a new production kitchen which has been EU-certified as a ground meat and bacon production facility. It is there we receive local Schleswig Holstein meat from local cattle farmers and butchers, and each morning, hand produce the freshest burgers anywhere.
“Eat Fresh, Eat Local” is not just something we say, we live it - we promise you can taste the difference when you bite into one of our juicy burgers!
IT’S TIME FOR SOME NEW YORK PIZZA
THE BIRTH OF JOHN’S PIZZA KITCHEN AND THE MOVE TO SLICE
Having grown up in New York, we know there is no single food that is more synonymous with New York than pizza, but New York-style pizza was nowhere to be found in Kiel.
With that in mind, we launched John’s Pizza Kitchen in November 2021 in a small takeout location on Schützenwall. We make the delicious pizza sauce in house from a recipe that John was taught by his Italian grandmother as well as prepare unique toppings like the housemade pepperoni and chorizo, housemade pulled beef and freshly made pesto sauce for our delicious vegetarian pizza!
In the summer of 2023, we relocated John’s Pizza Kitchen to a more central location on Beselerallee right next to the great bar Cafe do Sul. With a bit of work, we transformed what was a simple office space into a cozy, little pizza shop reminiscent of a true New York-style pizza slice joint. In fact, it reminded us so much of these classic places that we rebranded our name to Slice! Stop by our place to experience true New York pizza by the slice!
WELCOME TO WESTSIDE BAR & PIZZERIA!
After several years of planning and build up, we opened the doors to our newest restaurant located right off the Veloroute in Grasweg in December 2023.
Growing up in New York, there was always a place in town that we could go to where we knew it would have great food, drinks and be full of warm, lively, welcoming people.
It was our home away from home.
Welcome to Westside Bar & Pizzeria, your new home away from home in Kiel!