Interview with Anthony 'Murf' Murphy, Co-Founder of The Beefy Boys

This week we interviewed Anthony 'Murf' Murphy, Co-Founder of The Beefy Boys, to talk about the drunken BBQ, that kicked it all off, where they ranked at the World Food Championships and much more.

1. What inspired you to create The Beefy Boys, and how did the journey begin?

1. The Beefy Boys is a drunken BBQ that's seriously gotten out of hand - so out of hand we now have four restaurants, 200 staff, two food trucks, and a Sunday Times best-selling book about said drunken BBQ.

It all started 14 years ago when one of my lifelong friends Dan was having a BBQ for his partner's birthday. He called me and asked if I would help cook for it. None of us had a catering or hospitality background, but we had been watching a lot of Man vs Food and Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. So we did a ton of research and practice and cooked a BBQ for our friends - burgers, pulled pork, ribs etc. They all loved it. From there, we decided to enter a BBQ competition in Bristol called Grillstock.

We won Best Burger there and got entered into the World Burger Championships in Las Vegas. We headed over for what we thought would be a drunken trip to Vegas where we would come last in a cookery competition, and somehow we managed to come second in the world. That's pretty much what kicked the whole thing off and led to where we are today.

2. How did it feel to compete on an international stage like the World Food Championships, and what did you take away from that experience?

It was completely mad. They shut a big part of the Las Vegas strip off for it. We were lucky enough to return again this year after winning the UK Burger Awards in 2023. This year, it was in Indianapolis, which was an amazing place to visit. We ate so much food we all came back about a stone heavier, and this time we came fourth in the world, which was an amazing result. 

3. Was there a pivotal moment when you realised that The Beefy Boys could become a major success?

Literally, as we walked off the stage in 2014 after coming second place, I remember thinking at the time, this is it now, we need to take this seriously. When we came back to the UK, our first pop-up had a queue of 300+ people before we even fired the grill up. If it wasn't for the World Food Championships, we 100% wouldn't be here today. 

4. Do you have plans to expand further, or are there other food concepts you’d like to explore in the future?

Definitely. It's taken us 10 years to get four open. We are very picky about where we go - we don't want to open sites for the sake of it. We want to be considered in our approach to expansion. We've seen so many people get bigger, drop the quality, and collapse in on themselves, and we really don't want that to happen.

There are other food concepts we would love to do that connect to our BBQ roots, specifically live fire. We have a lot of ideas in that regard, and it's something we are working on for (hopefully) our second cookbook and maybe some special pop-ups in 2025. But our main focus is expanding The Beefy Boys restaurant brand. 

5. What’s the most unexpected or adventurous topping you’ve ever considered for a burger?

Oh God, loads. I've never managed to fully nail my concept of a shepherd's pie burger. We have loads in the cookbook, from surf and turf to a Hawaiian burger (yes pineapple on a burger-it can work!) The roast dinner burger is pretty special and one I'm quite proud of in the book. Also, the cowboy burger where we top a burger with a steak, is pretty mad. 

6. If you had one day off in London, where would you like to visit / explore? 

I am a real sucker for the tourist side of London. I love Soho and the West End, and if I had a day off, I would take the wife to see Hamilton. We've been wanting to go for years. (I'm not massively into musical theatre, by the way - we just both love a bit of Hamilton.) Food-wise, I would definitely head to Kiln.

For more information visit https://thebeefyboys.com/

Photography courtesy of The Beefy Boys