Private Project

The Lebanese Burger Mafia

THE LEBANESE BURGER MAFIA is a James Beard-nominated food documentary about Burger Baron — a rogue fast-food chain with mysterious origins, a cult following, and a secret pathway to the immigrant dream. It follows Omar Mouallem, filmmaker and heir to a Burger Baron franchise, as he chases clues through rural Alberta, capturing the trials and tribulations of Arab immigrants and a relentless battle over the burger chain’s trademark rights. (Arabic subtitles also available)

  • Omar Mouallem
    Director
    Digging in the Dirt, The Last Baron
  • Omar Mouallem
    Writer
    Digging in the Dirt, The Last Baron
  • Omar Mouallem
    Producer
    Digging in the Dirt, The Last Baron
  • Dylan Rhys Howard
    Producer
    Peak Oil, Boys Will Be…Themselves
  • Blake McWilliam
    Producer
    Hands That Bind, The Time We Have Left
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Comedy, drama, food, war
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 39 minutes 23 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    March 1, 2023
  • Production Budget:
    129,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Canada
  • Country of Filming:
    Canada, Lebanon, United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Hot Docs
    Toronto
    Canada
    May 3, 2023
    World Premiere
  • NorthWest International Documentary Festival
    Edmonton
    Canada
    May 14, 2023
    Alberta premiere
    Audience Choice - Best Doc, Audience Choice - Best Alberta Doc
  • Rotterdam Arab Film Festival
    Rotterdam
    Netherlands
    September 9, 2023
    Netherlands Premiere
    Finalist, Best Documentary
  • Toronto Arab Film Festival
    Toronto
    Canada
    June 11, 2023
    Second Place Honourable Mention, Best Feature Film
  • Calgary International Film Festival
    Calgary, AB
    Canada
    September 23, 2023
  • Windsor International Film Festival
    Windsor, ON
    Canada
    November 2, 2023
  • Cinefest Sudbury International Film Festival
    Sudbury, ON
    Canada
    September 22, 2023
  • Devour! Food Film Festival
    Wolfville, Nova Scotia
    Canada
    November 2, 2023
  • Calgary Arab Film Nights Festival
    Calgary, AB
    Canada
    October 21, 2023
  • Whistler International Film Festival
    Whistler
    Canada
    December 3, 2023
    British Columbia Premiere
  • Silk Road International Film Festival
    Dublin
    Ireland
    November 23, 2023
    Ireland Premiere
    Winner: Best Documentary and Best Documentary Director
Distribution Information
  • MAD Films (MENA Region)
    Distributor
    Country: Egypt
    Rights: All Rights
  • levelFilm
    Distributor
    Country: Canada
    Rights: All Rights
  • Pantalon
    Distributor
    Country: Worldwide
    Rights: Airline
Director Biography - Omar Mouallem

Omar Mouallem is an author, journalist, and documentary filmmaker known for his ability to intertwine human interest stories with world history and broad social issues.

His debut feature "The Lebanese Burger Mafia," which premiered at Hot Docs in 2023, is a finalist for the James Beard Media Award for documentaries. It's won several awards from Northwest International Documentary Festival (Best Doc), Silk Road International Film Festival (Best Doc and Best Documentary Director), and Toronto Arab Film Festival (Honourable Mention - Best Feature). Omar also won a Rosie for Best Documentary Screenplay.

He also co-directed and co-produced Digging in the Dirt, a raw look at the psychological toll of oil and gas labour, which screened at Hot Docs’ Eye on Alberta series, and Making Kayfabe: The Private Lives of Indie Wrestlers. Omar has also directed educational films and worked as a consultant and researcher for nonfiction drama. He’s represented by Innovative Artists.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

My earliest memories have one setting in common: a Burger Baron restaurant. That’s because my father owned a franchise in northern Alberta—though “franchise” is a loose term. It was, in fact, a bootleg version of the quirky fast-food brand envisioned in 1957 as the “McDonald’s of the North,” before quickly going bankrupt. It was almost forgotten until a loose network of Lebanese immigrants, like my parents coopted it as a path to the immigrant dream. Only they never knew, or cared, about the Burger Baron as a corporate brand, treating it instead like a meme that could be modified at their whim. There are more than 25 completely independent Burger Barons with no two logos, menus or recipes the same. It's the anti-chain fast-food restaurant.

I always appreciated what this rogue restaurant meant for our family and hundreds of others in our community who left their homeland mired by civil war and social unrest in search of a better life.

But I often wondered, how did a cabal of unrelated Lebanese take it over, and who was the O.G. baron?

The question lingered at the back of my mind until my late 20s. I’d carved a niche for myself as a food and travel journalist, feeding audiences stories about celebrity chefs and the latest trend restaurant to open. Back in the mid-2010s, foodie culture was becoming the dominant creative industry in North America, but I was tired of chasing food trends at eateries that felt artificially designed for the Food Network. Where were the immigrant restaurateurs pouring their souls into humble dishes for the masses? Can they even survive these rapidly changing dining trends? These questions inspired me to make The Lebanese Burger Mafia.

At heart, it’s about the migration of people and ideas, and the politics of food and proprietorship. Through a blend of verité film, interviews, animation, and archival photography and videos, I wanted to guide viewers across western Canada, California, and Lebanon, revealing how folks like my parents discovered the immigrant dream in a humble burger shack. And I wanted to show how the fierce independence of Lebanese (well documented by sociologists) is responsible for the restaurant’s triumphant resurrection and its floundering future.

To capture the humour, soul, and grime of the Burger Baron saga, I knew I’d have to take my crew on a trans-Alberta road trip to my roots in High Prairie, Alberta. But I also wanted to get personal, exposing the toll that owning a restaurant takes on families and the pressures of inheritance. The story builds toward an emotional heart-to-heart with my older brother about whether he chose his destiny to take over the family business.

Along the way, we stopped at more than a dozen other Burger Barons in hopes of discovering the one true Baron, or Baroness, who made all of this possible for families like mine.

The Lebanese Burger Mafia is a celebration of Arab culture not just in story but craft: I deliberately worked with Arab artists like Ashraf Al-Assaly, whose jaunty Middle Eastern folk music makes each scene bounce joyfully, and the Mahfouz Brothers, whose stylish cinematography captures the Barons’ bravado while juxtaposing this against a rural backdrop.

Ultimately, I wanted to leave audiences with a newfound appreciation of the overlooked cultural contributions of Arab and Middle Eastern immigrants, a common theme in my work as a multimedia journalist. By unfolding the history of Burger Baron, which is inexorably tied to the histories of both Lebanese and North American culture, I believe the movie can inspire greater empathy for racialized immigrants.