The Man Who Drove McDonald’s out of Iceland | Hungerlust S2

the simplicity of the burger is very important some mystical legend Tommy was a legend by the time I was born I'm 45 Nomi brought it for Eliza more than 70% of the people in ice know who I am or have heard of me the people are nice sometimes it's a burden sometimes it's not bad it's my first experience the poker was also like a revolution I had never tasted anything as good unbelievable I start working in the kitchen as an apprentice I spent seven years in the kitchen to be honest to do if I was in the kitchen I could be a little drunk on the job you know so that had a great impact on my decision to become a chef I liked it and I said wow I'm gonna be a restaurateur one of these days and I didn't learn very much then I was fortunate enough that somebody asked me if I would like to manage this Clubhouse and that's where my career actually began we would have rock and roll concerts every weekend and people from Reykjavik would come in buses for it was like a small festival every vegan and and then after that I said I gonna have to learn some more so I quit my job I went to America to Florida for me America is the mecca of restaurants it was unbelievable they are so at once I just looked around wow this is what I'm gonna do in Iceland the burger of course is an American thing so as I go to get inspiration when I came back I had some ideas of opening up steak house but at that time I was drinking and nobody wanted to talk to me about jobs or anything so I went into rehab and when I came out of rehab the only job that was available was to make hamburgers and then I found out that I really liked hamburgers absolutely ever since I was expecting to sell 250 in the most 300 in a week I opened up and the place was full I was selling over 1,000 burgers a day on the hours unbelievable so I thought I had discovered the money tree like a madhouse the burger is the best one and I stand there not trying too hard but they have some combination of feelings that I really like when the customers enter when people enter that the place they have expectations of it being a restaurant but it's not like a restaurant business you're not greeted by someone you're greeted by too much music too much stuff and the different sort of experience we still this quick I I mean everybody loves him it looks amazing to me some of you at all for the first eleven years I'd eat a burger every day and still it may be between three and five I've been working out since 1981 I don't use it you lose it and I'm not gonna lose it actually this is my birthday this is celebrating my sobriety 1980 so I have this frog rings they say a frog just like a prince in under spell and he's always waiting for the princess to come with his new Prince again so I decided when I open up restaurants I just jump on it it's almost like an addiction when you start to on a project you have two options either you finish or you quit and I never quit because I something saying that says conquer the world or die [Music] that's what you're gonna do you're gonna concrete [Music]

Channel: Culture Trip

Views: 3,713,144

Rating: 4.8348484 out of 5

Keywords: culture, trip, travel, Tommi Tomasson, american burger joint, Iceland, locals, kitchens, communities, food, migration, chefs, culture trip

Id: zOfYZSIJRjQ

Length: 5min 21sec (321 seconds)

Published: Thu Jan 02 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/XGhostGear]

What a great watch. Make me want to go there just for the burger.

Not a fan of the title of the video "Drove Mcdonald's out of Iceland" because the video had nothing to do with that.

[u/hommatittsur]

That title is 100% clickbait, McDs left Iceland because they couldn't import their own meat, I think it was because our currency was so weak, so it became too expensive and meat made in Iceland is also just too expensive for them. Tommi's Burger Joint makes solid burgers but it was never more popular than McDonalds here.

[u/Clintonlevi]

Dam this dude is jacked Daniels.

[u/DeficientRat]

Had one of the best burgers I’ve ever had in Iceland, but food is so expensive. Think it was $35 US. A burrito from Taco Bell was more expensive than seared whale. Makes sense being an island but damn.

[u/drizzy91]

His place looks like a burger joint from brooklyn

[u/theproductdesigner]

Best burger I've ever had was at one of Tommi's burger joints in London. God I wish I knew how to do one at home

[u/TheXanderp]

One small burger there is about $20, Iceland be pricey.

[u/notaplumber]

Anyone else see the resemblance to Richard Dean Anderson?

[u/24_7_cat_party]

This is an ad.