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Meet the New Company Bringing Immersive Theater Events Directly to Consumers' Homes

Based in Los Angeles, Codename Burg3r was born from the pandemic and built on the idea that no one should have to eat a meal alone.

Codename Burg3r
LA's new Codename Burg3r experience allows diners to choose from a variety of burger options, each of which comes with its own set of puzzles and clues to solve while eating.
Photo: Courtesy of Codename Burg3r

LOS ANGELES—“Our goal is that people never have to eat alone,” explained Josh Sugarman, the CEO of Codename Burg3r, a new Los Angeles-based immersive game experience that’s part event, part restaurant, part puzzle and part theatrical experience—all taking place from a consumer's own dining table.

The experience, which cheekily calls itself the “best alternate-reality burger joint in all the universes,” allows diners to choose from a variety of burger options, each of which comes with its own set of puzzles and clues to solve while eating. Diners then report back to the appropriately named Bureau for the Unexplained and Non-normal (B.U.N., for short); once your first mission is complete, you can unlock additional games, create your own secret agent avatar, discover hidden objects and even get access to secret menu items. New missions are released weekly and can accommodate up to six people for a 60-minute experience. Instructions come via text message and, in addition to the food, boxes come equipped with props, themed notes and other fun elements. 

Sugarman says that the idea was born during the pandemic. In April 2020, shortly after COVID-19-related shutdowns, he and his team launched their first foray into at-home immersive experiences with Vampire (dot) Pizza, which delivered pizzas accompanied by a vampire-themed storyline and game. Reservations for the experience initially sold out in just 96 hours.

“The idea came from just good old-fashioned human need,” Sugarman explained, remembering that at the start of the COVID-related shutdowns, he was simply looking for ways to make his life—and meals with his girlfriend—more interesting. “We realized at that point that we have the resources to do that—not only for ourselves but also for other people who are going through the same thing.”

Sugarman comes from a TV and film background, where he was “always focused on projects that created a world or adapted a world,” he noted. He got interested in the world of immersive events after discovering London-based entertainment company Secret Cinema and New York-based theatrical production Sleep No More. “I became such a huge fan of the potential of the immersive space to change how we get together and why we get together, and how we experience stories and how we interact with one another.”

Codename Burg3rSugarman thinks one of the keys to a good immersive experience is commitment to the character by every member of the team—including the customer service reps and the delivery staffers.Photo: Courtesy of Codename Burg3rSo when COVID-19 shut down live events, entertainment productions and restaurants, he jumped on the chance to give these communities work. (In fact, a portion of proceeds from Vampire (dot) Pizza last spring went toward a GoFundMe page for the League of Experiential and Interactive Artists.) Sugarman initially leaned on his existing networking of game creators and immersive experience designers, and also tapped his sister, who had previously run a catering business that shuttered during the pandemic; she now runs restaurant operations for Codename Burg3r.

“At the heart of it, it was me from the entertainment world and her from the event and restaurant world coming together to do something like this,” he explained. 

Another goal? To make diners feel like they’re part of a community. “When you eat a Codename burger, you're eating with other people playing simultaneously to you,” Sugarman pointed out. “You'll be able to interact with our characters, who you'll see over and over again, and you'll get to build your own character and do all the things you might do in a video game—but eventually you're going to be able to interact with the other folks who are playing simultaneously directly. We really wanted to use tech to create all the things you get from going to a great restaurant in your home.”

Sugarman hopes to soon expand from Codename Burg3r into a larger Codename universe, which encompasses Codename Burg3r, Vampire (dot) Pizza and other future experiences. “We always say, ‘It’s like Uber Eats and an open-world video game just got smashed together,’” he said. 

While the team currently makes the food locally in Los Angeles, Sugarman hopes in the future to allow restaurants around the country to serve as so-called local field offices. “We're partnering with other restaurants and other folks in the event space who can use this world and this system we've created to make the fun real and immersive,” he said. “It’s all about finding ways for restaurants to get their food to customers in a new way.”

When asked what he thinks makes an effective immersive theater experience, Sugarman noted that it's different for every attendee—and that’s the point. “The audience has to find the thing that makes it magical for them. Create a world big enough that everybody can go find their special nook and cranny and their moments.”

Another key? Commitment to the bit from every staffer on your team. “[At Codename,] everyone gets to make up their own character,” he explained. “These are not necessarily people from the entertainment or theater spaces—they are customer service representatives. On the first day, we say, ‘OK, we need you to come up with a secret agent character,'" he said. “It makes the experience better for the customer at every step.”

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