Simon Wanler

The Climb

A growing burger operation is built on repeatable decisions: product consistency, service pace, hiring, training, taste, leadership, and the protection of identity as volume increases. Since 2018, that discipline has been the operating ground for Simon Wanler as co-founder and CEO of Bastard Burgers, where the work is carried through the company’s daily systems rather than through positioning alone. The professional frame is deliberately narrow: one business, one responsibility, one format to make durable. Bastard Burgers provides the operating structure, and the co-founder and CEO role gives Simon Wanler’s work its practical center: building the brand, shaping the team, and carrying the obligations of a business whose appeal depends on immediacy, appetite, and consistency. Burger work is direct by nature. A bun, a patty, and a name on a menu stay simple only when execution holds under repetition. In that register, the work connected to Simon Wanler reads as product-led and operations-led: clear in intention, built for appetite, and judged by delivery rather than explanation.

Today

The current role is co-founder and CEO, with an operating philosophy stated plainly: "Surround yourself with great people. Otherwise, it’s impossible." That line treats leadership as part of the operating system, not as a separate performance above it. In Simon Wanler’s account, the business is not carried by one person’s output alone; it depends on the quality of the people around the work and the standards they can maintain together. That view fits the mechanics of a burger business. The guest experience is assembled through repeated small acts by many hands, from the idea behind the brand to the daily work of serving it. Simon Wanler’s emphasis on people keeps the growth question practical: strategy matters, but the operating machinery is trust, capability, and a team able to carry the product consistently.

Signature

Simon’s signature dishes include MBoom and The Bastard!. The named signatures, MBoom and The Bastard!, work as product markers inside a direct burger register: compact, recognizable, and tied to house identity rather than explanation. In the operation Simon Wanler has helped build, the emphasis stays on appetite, recall, and a burger that can carry the brand in service.

In Their Words “Surround yourself with great people. Otherwise, it’s impossible.”