ABOut burger nation
Burger Nation 2027 Announces it’s Biggest Year Yet
Burger Nation is a nationwide five-week burger frenzy that gives hospo venues the chance to show off their best burger creations across four categories: Meat, Chicken, Seafood and Plant.
The burgers are judged by the people whose taste matters most. Your customers!
304 venues took part in 2026 and 2027 is bigger again, with eight regional contests running alongside the national titles. In short… there’s glory up for grabs! Prizes… including dope trophies… and with over 100,000 burgers served up last year there’s lots of hungry burger lovers ready to hit you up!
You can enter one or more of the four categories, with one burger in each: Meat, Chicken, Seafood and Plant. One registration and one fee covers you however many you enter. Your burger doesn’t have to be created for the competition and it doesn’t have to be a limited-time special. It just needs to include McClure’s Pickles on, in or with it! Your burger needs to be available for the full competition period and clearly displayed as a Burger Nation entry on your menu or blackboard, and identified on the table talkers we send you. The burger name on your till needs to match the name you entered, because every score is checked against a receipt showing the burger by name.
During the competition diners scan the QR code at your venue and score your burger out of 10 for Looks, Taste and Eats. That gives every burger a score out of 30. There’s no judging panel. The result comes from the people who bought and ate the burger.
How it works
Eight regions across Aotearoa
Every part of the country now has its own contest. In each region we name a Best Burger and up to two runners-up, depending on how many burgers qualify there, alongside the coveted Gold Burger, a brand new Silver Burger and four national category awards for Meat, Chicken, Seafood and Plant. That’s up to 30 titles in all
What’s changing in 2027
1. Auckland / Northland
2. Hamilton / Waikato – Thames / Coromandel
3. Tauranga / Rotorua / Bay of Plenty
4. Taranaki / Whanganui / Manawatū
5. Central Plateau / East Coast
6. Wellington Region
7. Upper South Island
8. Lower South Island
Burgers are ranked on a rating out of 30 rather than a running total. An entry needs at least fifteen verified scores to be ranked. Ratings built on very few scores are weighted toward the competition average until enough scores come in, and extreme scores at both ends are set aside before averaging.
Ranked on your rating, not your total
Every score is backed by a receipt showing the date, time and burger by name, captured in the app and checked before it reaches the leaderboard. Scorers register a free ID so each person scores a given burger once. Group purchases and shared phones are handled, and every venue can request its own audit outcomes up to 5pm on 30 April 2027.
Scoring you can trust
One national leaderboard, filterable by region and by category, lets you and your customers track your regional contest and the national title side by side. Positions are updated in real time following audit and verification, and every entry shows how many verified scores sit behind it. The leaderboard is blurred from 9am on Saturday 3 April through to the announcement on 14 April, while every score behind a title is verified.
Follow the race all season
What entering gets you
A place on the national leaderboard and in the regional race for your part of the country.
Up to 30 titles to compete for across the eight regions, the four categories and the Gold and Silver Burger.
Five weeks on the trail, from 3 March to 4 April 2027.
Your own verified scores and audit outcomes on request, so you can see how your burger landed.
Entries open September 2026 and close on 12 February 2027. Entry is $249 + GST per venue, or $199 + GST if you get in before 30 November 2026.
How to enter
Burger Nation 2027 is a genuinely national competition. The best burger wins wherever it’s made, and the result stands up.
Questions? Get in touch at burgers@cookandnelson.com.