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That American Craft Beer Week (May 13-19) falls within National Burger Month is only fitting: the synergy between craft beers and craft burgers has helped both these businesses grow rapidly in the past decade. In his BurgerBusiness.com interview earlier this week, Slater’s 50/50 Co-founder Scott Slater said, “I attribute much of my success to craft [...]

Slater’s 50/50 has been upfront about being over-the-top since Scott Slater and Chef Brad Lyons opened the first in Anaheim Hills, Calif., in 2009. Known for its 50/50 burger patty made from equal parts ground beef and ground bacon and for its 100 beer taps, Slater’s 50/50 is nationally recognized for its creative Burgers of [...]

As BurgerBusiness.com reported  last week, McDonald’s has removed its Angus Third Pounders. As this site also reported, new Quarter Pounder burgers will fill the void. In an exclusive interview with BurgerBusiness.com today, Greg Watson, SVP of McDonald’s USA’s Menu Innovation Team, detailed the plan, which involves converting two of the 5.33-oz.-patty Angus builds to 4-oz.-patty [...]

[Update: McDonald's later confirmed what BurgerBusiness.com reported first: Angus Third Pounders are done.] McDonald’s has opted to drop the Angus Third Pounder burgers from its menu after a four-year run and a three-month deliberation. Rumors that the premium burger line was in danger circulated in February, when McDonald’s eliminated Chicken Selects and an apple-walnut salad. [...]

Could there be a better way to acknowledge National Burger Month than to spotlight the remarkable culinary creativity that drives the burger business? Appropriately, the May Burger of the Month specials display a wide variety of influences. There’s Southern cuisine in Bobby Flay’s Pimiento Burger; there are two Mediterranean and one Caribbean burger on the [...]

If it’s May 1 it’s the beginning of National Burger Month, a holiday I view much as I imagine most Irish pubs think of St. Patrick’s Day. It’s always burger month at BurgerBusiness.com. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t a few good burger ideas floating among the festivities. Independent burger bars’ ideas will be covered [...]

Burger King’s sales momentum faltered in Q1 as the introductions of its new Seattle’s Best coffee platform and Bacon Gouda Breakfast Sandwiches plus items such as the Avocado Whopper failed to translate into positive sales growth. For the quarter, Burger King same-store sales declined 3%, with global comp sales down 1.4%. COO Daniel Schwartz, who [...]

This was McDonald’s Corp. CEO Don Thompson’s pledge during last week’s Q1 earnings call: “Throughout the year, we will feature even more compelling new products in the United States, especially in our four key growth categories of chicken, premium beef, breakfast and beverages.” And from where will these great new menu items come? Said COO [...]

McDonald’s Corp. CEO Don Thompson explained the company’s poor showing in the first quarter by stressing once again that the Informal Eating Out (IEO) marketplace is a zero-sum game where survival and growth come at the expense of competitors. “Our growth is going to come from taking market share,” Thompson told analysts. The “thoughtful and [...]

In April 2012, Good Times Burgers & Frozen Custard hired Heathcote Capital LLC, many assumed the Golden, Colo.-based regional QSR was seeking a buyer. But President-CEO said that on the contrary Good Times was looking to buy. This week 39-unit Good Times announced deals with Charlotte, N.C.-based Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar. BurgerBusiness.com spoke with Good [...]

McDonald’s Corp. releases Q1 2013 sales results on Friday and the numbers aren’t expected to be pretty. Or positive. A 1.5% decrease in global comp sales for February after a 1.9% decline in January have fairly well sealed the deal on the quarter. There also are signals that consumer confidence and spending are still fragile [...]

The list of major burger-restaurant that don’t advertise on TV is short. It used to include Ted’s Montana Grill, the 44-unit, Atlanta-based casual-dining concept but the chain, which opened its first restaurant in 2002, now has filmed its first TV spot for use in selected markets. The 30-second spot mixes a bit of cowboy swagger, [...]

Winning the 2013 A.1. Burger Brackets competition may have been Burgatory’s proudest moment so far, but it was hardly its first recognition. Already this year it was voted “Best Burger in Pittsburgh” by NBC affiliate WPXI and included on Urbanspoon’s list of “Most Popular Restaurant Bars in the U.S.” Last year it was named “Best [...]

Red Robin Gourmet Burgers’ new advertising campaign focuses on burgers while simultaneously promoting its variety. “24 burgers. A million reasons” is the new tagline from Vitro, selected as national creative agency of record in January. Three new 30-second TV spots all feature the same unnamed young woman (at r.) who, like Wendy’s “Red” character, is [...]

The Counter’s Founder Jeff Weinstein says the company’s new fast-casual prototype has the potential to take the brand where it could not otherwise have gone while also freeing the original concept to evolve. The first location for Built Custom Burgers (a play on The Counter’s “Custom Built Burgers” sub-theme) opened last week by the University [...]