Business Q&A: Burger 9 Point 5

When it comes to getting a nice, juicy piece of meat slapped between two fresh buns with all the fixin's, few burger joints can stand shoulder-to-shoulder with this Merrick Avenue-based establishment.

Burger 9 Point 5 (the name refers to the weight of their meat patties) is a small yet comfortable dine-in/take-out restaurant located at 139 Merrick Avenue.

Owner Dave Schmidt recently spoke to Patch about slinging burgers for Merokeans for the past four and a half years.

Tell us about Burger 9 Point 5.

Obviously, we specialize in burgers. We do beef, bison, garden, and turkey. We purchase most of our goods locally – we get our meat from Surburbia, which is a local butcher down the road. It’s a very local, community-driven establishment.

We do as much from scratch as we can here. We cut our own fries, we make our own cole slaw, we hand-form our own beef and a lot of our sides are made from scratch. A lot of care has gone into what we do here.

What made you want to get into the burger business?

Originally I had a partner in the business. It was just an idea that we had that we wanted to grow upon, and we saw an opportunity in the area and we took it.

Did you have any previous restaurant experience?

I have more of a business/corporate background, my partner at the time had more restaurant experience.

With your background, was it difficult to transition into the food business?

Not really. Running a restaurant is like running any business; a lot of the same principles still apply. Besides, I was always interested in food and culinary experiences, so it wasn’t too hard to pick things up and figure out what we were doing.

Are you planning to make any changes to the menu in the future?

We’re looking to offer a lot more healthy options – salads, sandwiches, wraps; things like that.

What do you like about owning and operating a business in the Merrick area?

It’s a community; it’s the ability to really connect with the people here. That’s what our business is all about. We’re not on Hempstead Turnpike, we’re on Merrick Avenue, so it’s a small place, very locally-driven, so it’s the friends we’ve made here that make it enjoyable.