The original Harmony Lunch burger is back

Big news for fans of the iconic burgers at the original Harmony Lunch in Waterloo. 

Many throughout Waterloo Region were crushed when Harmony Lunch closed its doors October 29, 2016. Although the local hot spot lives on under new ownership, the Marks family never sold their original recipe for their popular pork burgers.

“I remember my parents talking about dating and going there,” says Kevin Stemmler, co-owner of Stemmler's Meat & Cheese. “It was a sad time for sure, for the whole community.”

However, starting Friday, the Stemmler Family is working with the Marks family to bring back the original Harmony Lunch burger!

You can now pick up a frozen 1lb tube to make your own patties at home, made with the original recipe.

“One thing that people didn't realize was we were actually manufacturing the burger meat for them for several years,” says Stemmler. “So we have the recipe, obviously they own it, and we couldn't do anything with it after they closed – until they came to us and said 'would you be interested in doing this again for us, on a retail level?'”

He says there is some work needed to make sure the flavour is the same as the original Harmony Lunch burger. 

“You can definitely roll this out at home. Of course, there's a few things you've got to know to get it right like they used to do it and that includes the famous onions that they used to cook it in. Very important you cook it in the onions when you make these burgers.”

The frozen rolls are being offered at the Stemmler's Heidleberg store on Lobsinger Line.

“We're very honoured that they came to us and want us to continue their family tradition,” says Stemmler. “We're a family business, they're a family business, and it's really important, I think, to keep some of these historical places going.”

Harmony Lunch had been owned and operated by the Marks family for 86 years.