Jim Block Hamburg: History, Menu and Branches
Jim Block, Hamburg's own burger chain since 1973: how Block House steak offcuts started it, the BIG BLOCK, its 12 branches and its new boss.
Photo: Gerd Fahrenhorst, CC BY 4.0
Jim Block is Hamburg’s home-grown burger chain. Eugen Block, who founded the Block House steakhouses, opened the first one in December 1973, mainly to put the offcuts from his steak production to use. Fifty-three years later it runs 12 restaurants in Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover and Rostock. The brand calls itself “das Hamburger Original” and Hamburg’s first burger restaurant. The first label is a good pun. The second is the brand’s own claim, and I found no historian to back it.
Looking for Karlheinz Hauser and Seven Seas? Seven Seas was a two-Michelin-star restaurant on the Süllberg in Blankenese, never a burger restaurant. It closed as a fine-dining venue when Hauser’s lease ended at the end of 2021, and I found no source that links him or Seven Seas to burgers. The full story is in its own section further down.
Jim Block Hamburg at a glance: key facts
Jim Block is the burger brand of the Hamburg-based Block group, founded in December 1973 and run since 1 August 2026 by managing director Jan-Philip Kotucha.
| Fact | Detail | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Founder | Eugen Block, founder of Block House | Wikipedia, Tageskarte |
| First restaurant | Hamburg, December 1973 (street address not found) | Tageskarte 2023, Lexpress Franchise |
| Why it was created | To use the offcuts from Block House steak production | Wikipedia, Lexpress Franchise |
| Self-description | “Das Hamburger Original”, Hamburg’s first burger restaurant (the brand’s own claim) | jim-block.de |
| Restaurants | 12, in Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover and Rostock | jim-block.de, Tageskarte (25 Sep 2026) |
| Signature burger | BIG BLOCK, 160 g regional beef patty | jim-block.de |
| Beef origin | The group’s own cattle farming in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and its own Block House butchery (official claim) | jim-block.de |
| Managing director | Jan-Philip Kotucha, since 1 August 2026 | Tageskarte (25 Sep 2026) |
| Parent group | Eugen Block Holding: 18 companies, about 2,800 staff, €493 million revenue in 2023 | Tageskarte (12 Sep 2025) |
I checked all of these facts on 26 October 2026. I could not confirm current menu prices, so this article prints none.
Who founded Jim Block? Eugen Block, the man behind Block House
Jim Block was founded by Eugen Block, the Hamburg restaurateur who created the Block House steakhouse chain with his sister Marlies Head. The first Block House opened in September 1968 on Dorotheenstraße in Hamburg-Winterhude, five years before the first Jim Block (Wikipedia).
Block was born in Harkebrügge, near Oldenburg in Lower Saxony. He turned 85 in September 2025. Hamburg named him Entrepreneur of the Year back in 2004 (Tageskarte, 12 September 2025). I call him the founder, not the boss: I found no source on his day-to-day role in 2026.
The Eugen Block Holding today
Jim Block is a small part of a much larger Hamburg group. According to Tageskarte, the Eugen Block Holding has 18 companies and about 2,800 employees, and it made €493 million in revenue in 2023. Besides the burgers it runs 47 Block House restaurants in Germany, the Grand Elysée hotel (opened 1985) and, since 2012, the Blockbräu brewpub at the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken.
Block House and Jim Block: how the steakhouse led to a burger chain
Jim Block exists because of Block House. In 1973 Eugen Block created the brand to use the offcuts left over from Block House steak production, and he made the hamburger its core product (Wikipedia, Lexpress Franchise).
The Block House steakhouse at Kirchenallee 37, by Hamburg Central Station. The awning reads “Best Steaks since 1968”, the year Eugen Block opened his first steakhouse. Jim Block was created in 1973 to use the offcuts from these steaks. (Photo: Gerd Fahrenhorst, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Block\_House\_HH-Kirchenallee\_37.jpg)
The group also founded its own Block House butchery in 1973, the year of the first Jim Block, so the burgers come out of the same supply chain as the steaks. I like this origin story more than most chain legends. There is no road trip and no secret family recipe, just a steakhouse owner working out what to do with his trimmings. It is also why the beef claims further down matter more here than at most chains.
Was Jim Block the first burger restaurant in Hamburg?
Jim Block calls itself Hamburg’s first burger restaurant, but that claim comes from its own website. I found no independent source that confirms or disproves it. Until someone produces a menu or a newspaper ad from before December 1973, I treat it as marketing.
The “Hamburger Original” line is a pun that only works in German, where a “Hamburger” is both a burger and a person from Hamburg. The city’s link to the burger’s name goes back much further than 1973: our history of the hamburger traces the Hamburg steak and the local Rundstück warm. Jim Block is the modern Hamburg chapter of that story.
Is Jim Block the oldest burger chain in Germany?
No, Jim Block is not Germany’s first burger chain. McDonald’s opened its first German restaurant on 4 December 1971 at Martin-Luther-Straße 26 in Munich, two years before the first Jim Block opened in Hamburg (Tageskarte).
Some German trade press says Jim Block came before McDonald’s and Burger King in Germany. The Munich date shows that is wrong for McDonald’s, so I do not repeat it. Our McDonald’s brand profile covers how that chain spread around the world.
Jim Block is not even the oldest burger counter I have covered in Germany. Udo Snack in Stuttgart opened on Calwer Straße in 1964 and sold burgers before McDonald’s reached that city. What sets Jim Block apart is ownership: it is a German-founded burger chain, born in Hamburg in 1973 and still owned by its founding group more than 50 years later.
The Jim Block menu: BIG BLOCK and the JB burgers
Jim Block’s signature burger is the BIG BLOCK, built on a 160 g regional beef patty. The standard JB Hamburger uses a 125 g patty. These are the burgers on the official menu (jim-block.de, checked 26 October 2026):
- BIG BLOCK: 160 g regional beef patty
- JB Hamburger: 125 g patty
- JB Cheeseburger
- JB BBQ Burger
- JB Steak & Cheese Sandwich
- JB Crispy Chicken
- Mini Hamburger and Mini Cheeseburger
Jim Block patty weights: the BIG BLOCK has a 160 g regional beef patty, 35 g (28%) more than the 125 g patty in the JB Hamburger (official menu on jim-block.de, checked 26 October 2026). (Chart: Burger Breton, data from jim-block.de (checked 2026-10-26), rendered with QuickChart)
Several burgers carry a “Prime Beef” label, and so do the branch signs. I could not check current euro prices on the official menu, so I left them out. They will go in once they are checked and dated.
Where does Jim Block’s beef come from?
Jim Block says its beef comes from the Block group’s own cattle farming in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and is processed in its own Block House butchery, founded in 1973. Its slogan: “Wir grillen Pattys und nicht den Planeten” (“We grill patties, not the planet”). One franchise trade site paints a different picture, with a mix of South American and regional steak meat. I report the official claim and attribute it to the brand.
Jim Block restaurants: 12 branches in four cities
Jim Block runs 12 restaurants in Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover and Rostock, according to its official site and a Tageskarte report of 25 September 2026. A 2025 report counted 11, so check the branch list on jim-block.de before you go.
The only branch I can name with a source is the one in Othmarschen, Hamburg, where the group spent €130,000 on the 2023 redesign. For Hamburg’s independent burger restaurants, from Dulf’s to Ruff’s (the former Otto’s), see our guide to the best burgers in Hamburg.
Map of Jim Block in Hamburg: the marker shows the city-centre branch at Jungfernstieg 1, on the Inner Alster. The chain runs 12 restaurants in Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover and Rostock. Check the branch list on jim-block.de before you go. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
The 2023 relaunch and the 2026 change of manager
For its 50th anniversary in 2023, Jim Block relaunched its look, its bun recipe and its workflows. The new design pairs light wood with blue-and-white Delft-style tiles that recall old Hamburg (Hogapage, 22 May 2023). Othmarschen got €130,000 of work. Every branch was due for the same treatment by the end of 2024.
That year the brand also announced a plan to double its number of branches within ten years, after pausing expansion in 2016 (Tageskarte, 15 May 2023). Three years in, going from 11 to 12 branches is a slow start.
Jan-Philip Kotucha has been managing director since 1 August 2026. He is a home-grown hire: he started at Jim Block in 2005 with a summer job in the Hamburg-Barmbek branch. His predecessor, Sven Freystatzky, left on 31 August 2026 to join Bouillon (Tageskarte, 25 September 2026).
The Jim Block in Hamburg-Barmbek, Fuhlsbüttler Straße 165, with its “Prime Beef Burger” sign and an outdoor menu board. Managing director Jan-Philip Kotucha started here with a summer job in 2005 (photographed January 2024). (Photo: Gerd Fahrenhorst, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jim\_Block\_HH-Barmbek,\_Fuhlsb%C3%BCttler\_Stra%C3%9Fe\_165.jpg)
Jim Block timeline: from Block House to 2026
These are the key dates of Eugen Block’s burger brand, with McDonald’s arrival in Germany for comparison.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| September 1968 | First Block House opens on Dorotheenstraße, Hamburg-Winterhude |
| 4 December 1971 | Germany’s first McDonald’s opens in Munich |
| 1973 | Block House butchery founded |
| December 1973 | First Jim Block opens in Hamburg |
| 2004 | Eugen Block named Hamburg’s Entrepreneur of the Year |
| 2016 | Jim Block pauses its expansion |
| 2023 | 50th anniversary: new design, new bun recipe, plan to double the branch count in ten years |
| End of 2024 | Target date for redesigning every branch |
| September 2025 | Eugen Block turns 85 |
| 1 August 2026 | Jan-Philip Kotucha becomes managing director |
Jim Block timeline, 1968 to 2026. Block group milestones in blue: first Block House (1968), first Jim Block (December 1973), Eugen Block named Hamburg’s Entrepreneur of the Year (2004), expansion paused (2016), 50th-anniversary relaunch (2023), Jan-Philip Kotucha becomes managing director (2026). In red: Germany’s first McDonald’s opens in Munich on 4 December 1971, two years before Jim Block. (Chart: Burger Breton, data from Wikipedia, Tageskarte and Hogapage (checked 2026-10-26), rendered with QuickChart)
My take: why Jim Block matters to Hamburg’s burger story
Jim Block matters less as a burger than as a piece of Hamburg business history. A steakhouse group that turned its trimmings into a burger brand in 1973 and still owns it today is a better story than the “first in Hamburg” line on its website. If I ran their marketing, I would drop that line and lead with the butchery. Whether the BIG BLOCK holds its own against the city’s independent burger restaurants is a question for a tasting visit, and this profile does not include one yet.
Karlheinz Hauser and Seven Seas: what happened on the Süllberg
Seven Seas was Karlheinz Hauser’s two-Michelin-star gourmet restaurant on the Süllberg in Hamburg-Blankenese. Hauser ran it until his lease ended at the end of 2021. The fine-dining concept went with him, so there is no Seven Seas today. It never served burgers.
The Süllberg in Hamburg-Blankenese, seen from the Elbe. The red-brick building with the tower and flag on the hilltop housed Karlheinz Hauser’s two-Michelin-star Seven Seas until the end of 2021. Today it hosts Süllberg Alm, a beer garden and event halls, with no burgers on the menu (photographed May 2012). (Photo: JoachimG, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S%C3%BCllberg\_(Blankenese).JPG)
Who is Karlheinz Hauser?
Karlheinz Hauser is a German chef, born in 1967 in Baden. He trained under Eckart Witzigmann at Aubergine in Munich, where he was sous-chef from 1990 to 1992 according to Tageskarte, and he worked with Gerd Käfer of Feinkost Käfer. From 1997 to 2002 he was culinary director of Hotel Adlon in Berlin (Four Magazine).
In 2002 he took over the Süllberg as chef-patron, operating the site and holding the lease. Seven Seas was the gourmet flagship there, next to the Deck 7 Market Restaurant, a beer garden and a seasonal Almhütte. It won its first Michelin star in 2003 and its second in 2012. In July 2017 Hauser and the Hotel Atlantic cooked for the leaders at the G20 summit in Hamburg (Tageskarte).
Why Seven Seas closed
In August 2020 Hauser announced he would not renew his Süllberg lease when it ran out in December 2021. He gave two reasons: COVID-19 had cost him about 60% of his revenue, and after 38 years in gastronomy he wanted to slow down (Tageskarte, 31 August 2020). Some online booking sites still list Seven Seas as bookable. Ignore them.
Hamburg entrepreneur Peter Rothe became owner of the Süllberg property at the end of 2021. The new operators are the brothers Vincenzo, Lorenzo and Angelo Vazzano of the hoi! group from Hannover. They dropped Michelin-star dining for events, family celebrations and corporate parties (Hogapage, 13 June 2022).
What is on the Süllberg today
The Süllberg, at Süllbergsterrasse 12, 22587 Hamburg-Blankenese, now hosts Süllberg Alm, a seasonal beer garden, the Kristallsaal event hall and a summer pizzeria. The operator’s site mentions neither Seven Seas nor burgers (suellberg-gastronomie.de, checked 26 October 2026).
Süllberg Alm serves mountain food with an Italian touch. It is closed on Monday and Tuesday. It opens Wednesday to Friday from 17:30 to 22:00, Saturday from 12:00 to 22:00, and Sunday for brunch from 10:30 to 13:30, then again from 14:30 to 22:00. The beer garden runs from May to September. The Süllberg itself began as an excursion restaurant in 1837, and its heritage-listed ballroom seats 500.
Map of the Süllberg, Süllbergsterrasse 12, 22587 Hamburg-Blankenese: the former home of Seven Seas, now Süllberg Alm (closed Monday and Tuesday) and a beer garden open from May to September. (Map: © OpenStreetMap contributors, ODbL, https://www.openstreetmap.org/copyright)
Where Karlheinz Hauser cooks now
Since 2022 Karlheinz Hauser has run catering for the McLaren Formula 1 team (Hogapage, 11 July 2025). Before that, Hauser Catering served the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, and he ran Poké You outlets in Frankfurt and in Rastatt, inside the Mercedes-Benz customer centre.
How I researched this article
I started with official sources: the Jim Block website, the Block group’s restaurant pages and the Süllberg operator site. I then checked dates, branch counts and management changes against Wikipedia and the German hospitality trade press (Tageskarte and Hogapage). Every fact was checked on 26 October 2026. Sources disagree on three points: the branch count, the beef origin and the “first in Germany” claim. I flag each one and use the official or best-documented version. I have not eaten at Jim Block for this piece, so it gives no rating and no tasting notes. More German burger history and city guides are on our Hamburg burger hub and in the Restaurants section.
Jim Block and Seven Seas: FAQ
What was the first burger restaurant in Hamburg? Jim Block says it was Hamburg’s first burger restaurant. It opened in December 1973. No independent historical source confirms the claim, so treat it as the brand’s own.
Was Jim Block the first burger chain in Germany, before McDonald’s? No. McDonald’s opened in Munich on 4 December 1971, two years before the first Jim Block opened in Hamburg in December 1973.
Who founded Jim Block, and how is it linked to Block House? Eugen Block, who founded the Block House steakhouses with his sister Marlies Head in 1968, created Jim Block in 1973. He started it to use the offcuts from Block House steak production.
Where does Jim Block’s beef come from? According to Jim Block, the beef comes from the Block group’s own cattle farming in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and its own Block House butchery.
How many Jim Block restaurants are there, and in which cities? Jim Block runs 12 restaurants in Hamburg, Berlin, Hannover and Rostock, according to its official site and Tageskarte (September 2026).
What is the BIG BLOCK burger? The BIG BLOCK is Jim Block’s signature burger, built on a 160 g regional beef patty. The regular JB Hamburger has a 125 g patty.
Is Seven Seas in Hamburg still open? No. Seven Seas ran as a fine-dining restaurant until the end of 2021, when Karlheinz Hauser’s Süllberg lease ended. The new operators dropped Michelin-star dining.
Where does Karlheinz Hauser cook now? Since 2022 he has run catering for the McLaren Formula 1 team.
Did Karlheinz Hauser ever serve burgers? I found no source that links Karlheinz Hauser or Seven Seas to burgers. Seven Seas was a two-Michelin-star gourmet restaurant.
What is on the Süllberg in Blankenese today? Süllberg Alm, a seasonal beer garden (May to September), the Kristallsaal event hall and a summer pizzeria, at Süllbergsterrasse 12, 22587 Hamburg.
.JPG){kind=link}