Sam Cooney is Operations Manager of Burger Fuel, located at 6320 Guilford Avenue. He recently discussed the distinctive murals painted on the restaurant's south side wall and parking lot in addition to others painted around Broad Ripple.

"We have one on our restaurant and have partnered with other businesses to paint murals on their walls. There's one on the back wall at Ossip Optometry (804 Broad Ripple Avenue) with different pairs of glasses. We have one on Bright Ideas (7425 Westfield Boulevard) with two birds that symbolize a father and his nestling. We have a mural on the side of the Egyptian Lounge (6265 Carrollton Avenue) right next to the U.S. Post Office," he explained.

They were among eight murals painted in a week by Burger Fuel's resident artist Kairau "Haser" Bradley who used 136 cans of spray paint. "One of our guys from New Zealand flies around the world painting murals at our stores and in their neighborhoods. His day job is a graphic designer at BurgerFuel HQ, his night job is painting murals. We made a great impact at the start, but it's important that we partner with local artists as well to continue our work in the community. We work with local Indianapolis artists FAB Crew who have added to our parking lot mural wall, and who painted our most recent mural at Passwater Auto Specialists (located at 821 Broad Ripple Avenue), which is a throwback to the bootlegging origins of NASCAR," Cooney said. (He organized the activities that involved creating the murals.)

In addition to the murals, Burger Fuel gives back to the community. "Another unique community activity that we do is a program called Common-Unity. Each month, we pick three charities from the local community, and we donate $500 to them ($250 for first place, $150 for second place and $100 for third place). Customers receive a purple token when they order and can vote for one of the three causes by dropping their token into the respective jar at the restaurant. We put up the money and just get our customers to tell us how to divvy up the money each month. In the year that we're been open, we have given over $6,000 to local charities. We think that Broad Ripple is a cool little village. That's why we came here and we work with the community wherever we can, as we want to see Broad Ripple thrive. Partnering with charities, adding culture through painting the murals, and putting on local events are some of the ways we do this. On August 4th, we threw our first anniversary birthday party. That was to thank everyone in the community for their support and to give back by putting on a really cool event," Cooney mentioned.

Burger Fuel is open from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Cooney arrived in the United States in June of 2017. His initial impressions of Indianapolis were, "A cool little city, with good spots to visit once you learn and scout them out."

"Part of our brand is trying to be a bit different from a regular food or burger place. We have been painting murals for 20 years. When we arrived in Indianapolis, we started painting and have just been adding to those over the last year. Burger Fuel opened on May 29, on Memorial Day 2017. We thought the Midwest was a good place to start and we homed in on Indianapolis and within it, we found Broad Ripple. It kind of reminded us of where we opened our first store in New Zealand in 1995. It has a similar vibe with the Village. It has been a good place to start and the plan is to circle out from here," he noted.

Cooney described their menu. "We give a fresh and modern take on the hamburger, specializing in fresh and real ingredients. We serve grass-fed beef and free-range chicken. Almost everything is made fresh in the store daily. We don't really buy things off the shelf. There are no GMOs (genetically modified organisms) or artificial flavorings, colorings, or sugars. It's meant to make you feel good after you eat. We've also built a following amongst the vegetarian and vegan crowd. Our V8 Vegan burger was voted the Best Vegan Burger in Indianapolis (Indianapolis Monthly, 2017). Our sweet potato, called kumara, is a type you can't get from America. It's from New Zealand, and we have a farmer who grows them for us. We also have a popular side called Motobites. These are our own recipe - little crumbed balls of chick peas, carrots, pumpkin and ginger. They are something you can't get anywhere else and have proved popular amongst the locals!"

"In terms of the most rewarding part of the murals is that it is adding to the community. The murals enhance a community in this era of social media (for example, Instagram), in knowing we've doing our part," Cooney emphasized.

"We kind of believe that in this day and age, you need to be more than just serving burgers. What makes us different is our culture. There are three pillars - Creative, Sweet (www.burgerfuel.com/nz/world-of-burgerfuel/creative-sweet) with artwork that features various murals in communities, Radio Burger Fuel (www.burgerfuel.com/nz/world-of-burgerfuel/radio-burgerfuel), a New Zealand-based music radio station broadcasts globally where they sponsor local music, events and artists through parties, and Speed Custom (www.burgerfuel.com/nz/world-of-burgerfuel/speedandcustom) where classic American muscle cars are recognized. These three parts of our culture are what makes us different from everybody else. We serve different food, create these murals and sponsor music that no one else is doing," Cooney noted.

A native of Auckland on New Zealand's north island, Cooney described his country, "I would say our culture is quite similar to western countries, but different in the food. We have quite an internationally-inspired food down there being close to Asia and South America. Our heritage is European. I think we have an extremely high caliber of food. I think it is the one thing I miss. The cultures are not too different from each other."

Schedule your next culinary pit stop at Burger Fuel to see their murals, try their burgers, cast a vote for a local charitable donation and ask Sam to share some stories about life down under.