The triumph has also had a special meaning for Irati de la Cruz Edrosa. Originally from Barakaldo, she returned to her hometown with Madison, the project she helped build in Zaragoza alongside Igor Machado and Christopher Fenelon. The victory came just one day after the team secured third place in the French Grand Final, held in Paris, a result that made Madison Europe’s third-best burger.
The international journey came on top of the nine golds and five silver medals won this year at the competition’s various stops. “Winning the Best Smash Burger in Spain award this year is, quite literally, a dream come true,” explains Igor Machado, the project’s founder. Because behind it lies “a year of countless hours of work and never giving up.”
FROM ZARAGOZA TO TOURING SPAIN AND EUROPE
The story with The Champions Burger began in 2025, when Madison took part for the first time as a local guest in Zaragoza. “We arrived without really knowing how it all worked, but I immediately knew I wanted to follow this entire journey,” he recalls. That first experience, however, opened a door, and invitations to other cities soon began arriving. The team visited 13 locations and secured six podium finishes: two golds, three silvers and one bronze.
In 2026, the definitive breakthrough arrived. Madison became a permanent part of the Smash tour and took part in 10 Spanish cities before reaching the grand final. It made the podium in every one of them, with seven first-place finishes and three second-place finishes. France came next, where the team took part in all five stops on the tour and won two golds, two silvers and, finally, third place in the Paris Grand Final.
The star of this story has a name: Pink Paradise. “A smash burger that was not born from a sudden flash of inspiration, but from years of testing, changes and small adjustments,” confesses this Zaragoza resident, who remains deeply aware of his roots.
Madison began its journey in 2020 in the heart of the Almozara district, when none of this seemed possible. “Our burger did not appear overnight, nor did we find the perfect recipe from one day to the next,” they explain. Over time, the team has adjusted quantities, cooking points, sauces and ingredients from city to city. Even the bun required a specific process.
The recipe that ultimately took them to the top combines pink brioche, Paradise powder, chuletón fat smash, Iberian pork cheek, caramelized Italian guanciale, aged cheddar, bacon bits, sour cream and Malibu sauce.
That said, the young founder explains that there is no secret ingredient: “It is the sum of countless small decisions, six years of experience and a fairly intense obsession with constantly improving the product. We wanted to reach the top; that was the dream.”
The international leap has also been a fundamental part of this year. Madison had already had its first experience outside Spain in Porto, but 2026 brought the French tour. There, the team maintained the essence of the brand while introducing small changes with French audiences’ tastes in mind. The result was a podium finish in all five cities where they competed and third place overall in Paris.
