Meet Black Bear Burger, winner of CODE’s Happiest Places to Work 2026

The Black Bear Burger philosophy can be summed up as “simple, done well”. They’re referring, of course, to their famous dry-aged, grass-fed British beef burgers – voted the 2nd best in the world – but the philosophy might equally apply to their streamlined operation. Unusually, for a company this size, Black Bear Burger doesn’t have an HR department; its small head office is made up of just founder Stew Down, the operations director and three “home-grown” area operations managers. Rather than imposing policies and processes from the top, the head office exists to support the people running the business day to day. The group now has three bricks-and-mortar sites (Brixton, Exmouth Market and Westfield) and six food stalls across London, grown out of a stall at Broadway Market started by husband-and-wife team Stew and Liz Down. The judging panel was impressed by Stew’s visible, engaged leadership; the trust placed in its people; the high scores for inspiring leadership; and the exceptionally high engagement with the survey. This is a business that keeps things simple, trusts its people and leads from the front. “We care about our colleagues, we care about our guests and we care about what reaches the tables.”