Street Food Championships interview

With Street Food Dish of the Year winner, Alex Rodgers of Birria Bandits

Alex, you just won the 2022 Street Food Championships. Were you expecting it, are your shocked – what’s going on?!
I legit have no words. I didn't expect to win! I arrived with just the anticipation of participating and wasn’t expecting a win at all.

I'm less than six months into operation and I’m doing it all by myself. Literally everything – from behind the scenes to the admin stuff to the social media to the menu right into the development – is done by me. So, to come this year by myself, with my own company and win… yeah, I just have no words.

On top of the story you’ve just given us, you were up against some huge businesses and still took home the title. How does that feel?
There really were some very big names. There was a lot of good competition and I've made some really good friends – you can guarantee you’ll be seeing some collaborations next year.
But yeah, I'm still taking it all in. To be this young, little company from Leeds and to come London and win such a big event is just outstanding. I'm so proud of myself.

Around the judges’ table, we really appreciated the detailed intricacies you went into in terms of how long it took you to make elements like the stock, for example, but the consumer would only see it as quite a quick, street food operation. Is that a conscious thought behind your business?
Not necessarily. The stock is always the first thing I do because it takes the longest. With my recipe, it takes three days – from tossing the chilies off in the oil, to sweating the veg, to blitzing it all, to filling a 120L pan up to the brim and reducing it down. We end up with 4L at the end of it all, and as you guys have tested, it shows within the stock itself. That’s what I'm proud of.

I've always said that money isn't the biggest thing for me. What I'm more bothered about is people trying my food and seeing the reaction it gets. It makes the long days worth it. I just want people to enjoy what they're paying for.

This dish actually came about really weirdly – I just love Asian and Mexican food, so wanted to try and integrate them both in a really cool concept, hence Let’s Tacobao It. That’s where the bao dipped in birria stock came from. The beef short rib, which was marinated for 24 hours in Cazcabel sugar salt, and then slow roasted with a tiny bit of the birria stock for 12 hours. This win just shows that it worked.

So how are you going to celebrate and move into the next year – do you have big plans going forward?
I’ve already started taking bookings for 2023. We’re doing corporate events and we’ve also got quite a few weddings booked, on top of food festivals and pop-ups with people we've worked with before and people that we've got to know here this evening.
But my main goal really is to give back to the community in any way I can. I want to help and collaborate with other businesses, giving back to the people who have helped me.

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