Casey Jones launched the Burger Boat on the North Shore Bear Lake State Park five years ago.

ST. CHARLES – There is an unusual food business on the North Beach Bear Lake State Park. It’s a floating food truck called the Bear Lake Burger Boat.

Dawn and Chris Warner purchased the Bear Lake Burger Boat in September and are serving hamburgers and other favorite sandwiches on the water at North Beach Bear Lake State Park.

The park is located approximately an hour’s drive from Logan, approximately 56 miles north on US-89. Bring your swimming suit or waders because there is no land access to the Burger Boat.

Casey Jones saw a need when he was at North Beach: there was no place to eat.

The power company owned the water and the state of Idaho owned the beach. There was no room for a food truck and the closest place to eat was in St. Charles over 4 miles away.

I was at a lake in Ozarks one time and saw a guy that had a boat selling hamburgers,” the St. Charles resident said. “The guy had a girl in a bikini on the front of the boat taking orders for hamburgers and people were throwing money at them hand over fist.

“I felt like there was an opportunity. I found a beat-up pontoon boat, bought it and I took it to a friend in Scottsdale, AZ who built restaurants and had him fix up the boat and add a kitchen.”

Jones put it out on Bear Lake and started selling burgers, chicken, pulled pork and hotdogs. People have never seen anything like it.

“COVID was really good to me,” he said. “We had a lot of visitors from other states. We had people from California and as far away as Louisiana buy from us.”

A row of freshly cooked hamburgers await the finishing touches before feeding the people on the shores of Bear Lake.

He got bored serving the same foot-long hotdogs, hamburgers, pulled pork and grilled chicken. So, he came up with a Moo-Cluck-Oink sandwich: hamburger, chicken and pulled pork on a bun.

“It was a hit. I started taking pictures of people who ate them and had a hall of fame for those who finished it,” he said. “It was a lot of fun.”

The first two years Jones saw 100 percent growth. The last two years the business grew about 50 percent.

He sold the Bear Lake Burger Boat last September to Chris Warner. Warner is a retired sales executive from Salt Lake City.

He spent his summers at Bear Lake when he was younger and lived up there. Warner bought the Burger Boat to keep busy during the summer.

“I semi-retired in September and moved to Paris. My wife, Dawn, and I thought it would be a great thing to do in the summertime.”

They love cooking meat and serving to people on the beach.

“I’m a people person. I work on the front of the boat and Dawn is the cook and she does a great job,” he added. “Talking with people at the front of the boat is the part that keeps me alive.”

They said so far it has been fun, but food costs and gas prices haven’t been the best.

The Bear Lake Burger Boat serves fresh hamburgers, hotdogs, pulled pork and grilled chicken in the water at North Beach Bear Lake State Park.

“We’ve been able to keep our prices the same and absorb our costs,” Warner said. “We haven’t changed the prices this year.”

The Warner’s children are all in their 20’s. They come up over the weekend to help. They all got their food handlers permit so they could help out when they come see them.

“People wade out into the water to order,” Warner said. “If the water continues to drop it could be concerning. The last month of our season is August.”



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