Aly Lalani has poured everything into making his restaurant, Build My Burgers, a success. Lalani and his wife started looking into purchasing a franchise of an established business in 2018, but they could not find any options in their budget. “The ones that were reasonably priced, they did not have a presence in Orlando,” Lalani said. “We’re big foodies, and we love eating burgers. So we were always looking for something where you get a good quality burger, but the price is ridiculous or the quality is not there. So we decided to we’re gonna have let people build their burgers the way they like.” That was the idea that became Build My Burgers. The pair started the lease on their restaurant — 3402 Technological Ave. Suite 136 — in 2019 and the restaurant was originally supposed to open in April 2020. “And then we know what happened in March — and actually, it happened March 19 which is my birthday — so literally, I found out that the country’s shutting down on my birthday,” Lalani said. Despite that, Lalani continued to work on the restaurant and was finally able to open in January 2021. “It took almost a year and then I was maxing out all my credit cards,” Lalani said. “In November, we had a baby and, and then I took two more months off and I said, ‘I’ll start the new year fresh,’ and thankfully, as soon as we were opening, the country was opening, and they had made the dining like 50% (capacity). So people were excited. People were excited to get out of their house.” The restaurateur said the reaction to Build My Burgers has been positive, so much so that the business has been able to rely on word of mouth to draw in customers. “We don’t really spend money on advertising or any of that. We just believe in our product. We believe in our food. And we believe in our customers,” he said. Build My Burgers is situated close to the campus of the University of Central Florida and Lalani offers a lot of deals for the students there. “I always tell people, as long as the community is supporting me, I’ll keep supporting them,” he said. Now, after two years of hard work, Lalani is getting ready to franchise Build My Burgers and he is actively looking for people nationwide to buy into the business. On the latest episode of Florida Foodie, Lalani talks all about what makes his burgers stand out from the rest. He also talks about working with his family and building the business all while raising two children. Please follow our Florida Foodie hosts on social media. You can find Candace Campos on Twitter and Facebook. Lisa Bell is also on Facebook and Twitter and you can check out her children’s books, “Norman the Watchful Gnome.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices