All Good News: From PR to flipping burgers, SoCal man reinvents himself during pandemic

From PR to flipping burgers, one man reinvented himself after losing business during the pandemic.

Sophie Flay Image
Friday, July 16, 2021
Popular burger pop-up started in Redondo Beach driveway
Popular burger pop-up started in Redondo Beach drivewayFrom PR to flipping burgers, one man reinvented himself after losing business during the pandemic. Now he has a successful mobile burger pop-up.

REDONDO BEACH (KABC) -- Before the pandemic, Matthew McIvor was running a PR agency. He represented restaurants and hospitality clients.

But as soon as COVID hit, McIvor's clients dwindled away like many restaurants.

"It was successful, but when COVID hit 90% of our clients left," said McIvor.

With his free time, he started cooking burgers at home and handing them out to his neighbors.

"I just jumped on local Facebook groups, the Nextdoor app, and found people in the neighborhood that would be interested in coming out," McIvor said.

His neighbors encouraged him to set up shop in his driveway and create his now mobile burger pop-up called Proudly Serving.

"Matt has a really strong history and PR so he knows how to get the word out about things and our burgers are awesome," said Proudly Serving co-founder Kevin Malone.

What McIvor would describe as a simple burger, became a smash hit.

"I knew we had something going as soon as we started getting repeat customers," said McIver.

McIvor and his burgers are constantly on the move, appearing at the Glendale Tap and Select Beer Store.

You can figure out where to grab a bite next by following Proudly Serving on Instagram.https://siteeditor.abcotvs.com/SiteEditor/index.htm#

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