Mohammad Islam understood the question alright. It was the reporter who misunderstood the answer: Mr. Islam’s businesses don’t run 17 hours-a-day, seven-days-a-week. It’s Mr. Islam himself who works those hours.

“Every week?”

“Every week.”

And he left a “high paying” management job for this? Flipping burgers and asking “You want fries with that?”

Yes, but they’re special burgers: they’re his burgers. They are, he says, big – 6-ounce, hand-made, homemade, and the freshest burgers in the Chambers Street area. And they are selling like, well, hotcakes, which he also sells at his “Fortune Burger” at 165 Church St., at the corner of Chambers – along with a varied lunch menu.

Full disclosure time: New York Sun hacks – who have some experience in grabbing hamburgers – have flocked to Fortune, which is how the Dacca-born immigrant caught their attention.

Born in Dacca 38 years ago, Mr. Islam immigrated as a teenager and learned business administration at LaGuardia Community College in Queens, where he also met his wife, Auristela, a native of the Dominican Republic.

In fact he credits Auristela with coming up with the idea of going out on his own. Islam worked for 16 years for the Burger Heaven chain, ending up as a manager of one of its biggest outlets, a position which he said was “high paying.”

“She said ‘you should get into your own business,'” he said. “She was my inspiration.”

He did as his wife suggested. His 17-hour days began three months ago when he started outfitting Fortune, and returning every night to work the night shift at a delicatessen he owns in Jackson Heights, Queens.

Mr. Islam said the key to his success is the fact that his burgers are made fresh throughout the day in his modern kitchen tucked away in the basement.

“Every other restaurant in the neighborhood buys the burgers. They buy them frozen. They don’t taste like mine,” he said. “Once people discover this, the word gets around. They love it.”

The word has started to get around, he said, to the level of about 200 lunches a day, delivered by three men or picked up by local lawyers, law school students, businessmen, and a not a few hacks.

Today Chambers and Church Streets. Tomorrow Mr. Islam wants to conquer the world.

“My dream is to open a chain of burger restaurants, Fortune Burger restaurants. That’s my dream,” he said.

Which means a lot more 17-hour days, he said.

When does he see his two sons, 15 and 7 years old?

“We open late on Saturdays and Sundays, so I have breakfast with them.”

“Late?”

“Nine.” Islam has investment advice: “I have invested in mutuals. They are solid and they are safe,” he said. “Then I sold them to open this place.”