Local fatboy challenge gives customers 30 minutes to devour behemoth burger, chili and all By: AV Kitching Posted: 5:43 PM CDT Tuesday, May. 26, 2026

It’s just noon on what’s turning out to be the hottest day of the year and Curtis Kalmakoff, 40, takes a swig from the bottle of water next to him before taking his 11th bite of the world’s largest — and likely most expensive — fatboy burger.

Weighing as much as a three-month-old child, the burger comprises a seven-pound meat patty topped with: 10 slices of Bothwell cheddar cheese, half a pound of chopped white onions, one pound of tomatoes and half a pound of Elman’s sliced dill pickles, all smothered in 1½ pounds of chili and sandwiched between two made-to-order buns from Food Fare measuring 38 centimetres wide and approximately five centimetres tall.

As Kalmakoff wraps his lips around the 12½-pound beast in the outdoor seating area of St. James Burger & Chip Co., owner Kevin Ramberran and restaurant manager Les Bartle cheer him on.

Ramberran is the mastermind behind today’s contest.

Dubbing it the World’s Largest Fat-Boy Challenge, he’s offering the $179.99 (plus taxes) burger free if customers are able to finish it in under 30 minutes.

The burger is equivalent to 12 regular-sized fatboys with a calorie count of approximately 5,000 calories, Ramberran estimates.

The restaurateur — who also owns Dreamland Diner on Portage Avenue — unveiled the mega burger on the fast food joint’s social media pages last week and has been inundated with calls from Winnipeggers raring to give it a go.

Kalmakoff is the first person to take on challenge, attempting to eat the entire thing in just half an hour. Should he be unsuccessful, he’ll have to fork out for the hefty price tag — but at least there’ll be leftovers for dinner.

The longtime customer and fan of the resto’s Triple 17 Wing burger came across the social media post a week ago. This is the first time he’s taking part in an eating challenge.

“I’ve never done anything like this before,” he says. “My reasoning was this is the first one that they’re doing. There’s so many burger challenges everywhere, so being the first one to try one someplace, that to me is awesome. I just love being the first one to try this.

“To be honest, I feel amazing. I feel like I’ve already won.”

It’s the second time the restaurant has cooked the burger.

Their first attempt was a trial run and shared out among staff members. Made with a 60/40 mix of ground beef and pork, it takes around 20 minutes to cook the patty and 45 minutes to assemble the whole thing.

“It’s our regular fatboy, just super-sized,” Ramberran says. “This is our second crack at it. The first one we filmed and put out on social media.

“I wanted to find a way to put Winnipeg’s most famous burger on the map in a different way. They’re a staple of this city, and at St. James, I am always trying to push the envelope to do something interesting.”

Bookings are coming in thick and fast on the restaurant’s website. There’s already a contender signed up for Thursday’s challenge and another coming on Saturday.

Ramberran is surprised by the popularity of the challenge; it’s not something he was expecting.

“One of the reasons why I’m not letting people book it right away is that we need a week’s notice to do it. That gives me a chance to schedule when people are going to be coming in to do it.

I don’t want to be doing it in the middle of a lunch or dinner rush because that’s just not fair to our regular customers. So I am trying to plan it in the beginning of the day or in the shoulder period between 2 to 5 in the afternoon.”

Outside, a small crowd of restaurant regulars gather around to watch Kalmakoff tackle his feast. Things are heating up as the clock continues counting down from 30 minutes.

It’s immense task and he’s been trying to prepare as much as he can, chugging liquids to expand his stomach and packing in as much food as he could towards the end of last week to get his body accustomed to volume eating.

He began tapering off his food intake towards the weekend and has not consumed any food since Monday morning, he says.

Things seem to be going well and with 21 minutes still left on the clock, Kalmakoff has consumed roughly one-third of the burger.

He’s got his method down pat, ripping apart pieces of the burger with both hands to make sure there’s no let-up in his sustained eating as he continues chomping down.

But he might have been tucking in too quickly; despite his prior prep, he seems to be flagging, and is finally forced to throw in the towel at the 10-minute mark.

“I’m done, I can’t do it,” he says, tapping out on the table before wiping his chili-stained hands on white towels.

He’s made quite a dent in the burger, having eaten the equivalent of five regular fatboys. And there’s still enough left over on the tray to fill three takeaway boxes.

It looks like he’ll be eating over the course of the next few days. Not that he’s complaining.

“It’s delicious. I would absolutely eat it again for dinner tonight,” he says, laughing.

winnipegfreepress.com/avkitching