One of the most influential restaurants of the past 20 years got its start as a hot dog cart. In 2001, New York restaurateur Danny Meyer (the nascent empire builder then best known for Union Square Cafe and Gramercy Tavern) took on the project of helping to revitalize Madison Square Park with a pop-up food cart slinging Chicago-style hot dogs. Three years later, Shake Shack, now in a permanent Madison Square Park location, was born. The line — and the legend that came with it — immediately followed. “When we saw the line, we looked at one another and basically said, ‘Oh shit. Is this real?’” Meyer recalls now.
What people lost their shit over was a counter-service restaurant that served Pat LaFrieda-sourced beef smash burgers on Martin’s potato rolls, served in crisp paper sleeves; crinkle-cut, sometimes cheese-topped fries; a killer vegetarian (mushroom) burger option; and frozen custards in constantly changing flavors. It was fast food, but elevated to match Meyer’s already-famous philosophy regarding hospitality. “Hospitality and excellence resonate with guests at any price point,” Meyer says. “Hiring people with a heart for hospitality and selecting the same quality ingredients we’d use at any of our full-service restaurants works just as well in the fine-casual space.”
Shake Shack expanded slowly, by today’s standards: to 100 restaurants over 10 years. Today, it has more than 400 locations, but more crucially, Shake Shack’s DNA can be found in countless chef-driven, counter-service, dare we say “fine-casual” restaurants across the country (burger joints and otherwise). It’s in every quick-service menu that cites the provenance of its ingredients, in the limited-time-only dishes designed to draw lines. It’s the reason why airports and train stations and stadiums now all boast stalls with big-name chefs, and why in the mid-2010s everyone lost their minds over fried chicken sandwiches, smash burgers, and the possibilities of fast food in a bit of a nicer package. It’s the inspiration for every chef currently dreaming up a concept that can eventually IPO.
Eater recently chatted with Meyer about the early days of Shake Shack and what the future holds for the brand over the next 20 years.
On Shake Shack’s opening day:
We didn’t know what hit us. The line was epic, and while we’d planned to be slammed on the hot dog station — all we’d known to that point was our hot dog cart — it was the burgers, fries, and frozen custard that stole the show. And on day one, our custard machine broke down, so we had to 86 cups, cones, shakes, floats, and concretes by 3 p.m.
We of course hoped that there would be solid demand for our Shack-cago Dogs as we’d seen when it was just a hot dog cart, but we’d completely underestimated how excited the public would be for the entire experience.
On growing slowly in the early days:
In our early days we had a custard flavor of the day. We’d hand-pack pints with yesterday’s leftover flavor and sell the next day so that there was no waste. People loved that. For the first three years, we’d close the Shack seasonally from November until the first week in April. So, we were essentially open during baseball season and that was it. We’d use the off-season to make kitchen modifications. With each year, the burger and french fry stations grew a little bit, and the hot dog station shrunk. After three years, we’d gotten that balance pretty right.
In our early years, the one consistent refrain was, “I love Shake Shack but the line is too long.” We’d installed a Shack Cam so that people could gauge the length of the line, but the Shack Cam itself became a thing — this was before there were smartphones or FaceTime and people would wait in line just to wave to their friends. Randy Garutti had been telling me about a location near his home on the Upper West Side. I’d never had a desire for more than one Shack, but he finally persuaded me with this argument: A second Shack would help by cannibalizing the line at the first, making it a better experience for everyone. When we opened our second Shack on 77th and Columbus, the line at Madison Square Park only grew longer.
The menu item he wishes would come back:
I wish we could serve Coffee Shakes at all of our Shacks. Ours was truly the best I’d ever had — and the flavor combination of that shake with our french fries was right there with Sauternes and foie gras. I’d probably made a mistake by initially naming it the “Fair Shake” (we were using “fair-trade” coffee). Should have just called it a Coffee Milkshake from the start.
On now seeing smash burgers everywhere:
I fell in love with smashed burgers growing up in St. Louis. We certainly didn’t invent them — but as a category, they now seem to be everywhere. We got the idea to work with Pat LaFrieda’s beef from Union Square Cafe and Tabla. But after Shake Shack earned renown for our burgers, we began to see Pat LaFrieda beef on menus all over.
What the future holds:
Without saying by when, earlier this year, Shake Shack announced its plans to grow to 1,500 restaurants. I love that we have become a global brand in over 20 countries. Next it would feel great to see us do something in Europe and South America. It feels good to export American hospitality to other cultures.
His standard Shack order:
I always order a double cheeseburger with a slice of raw onion and fries. And I’ll usually order something else “for the table.” Sometimes I’ll add a Chicken Shack, and often my own invention: an inside-out grilled cheese dog.