Shake Shack’s new book, “Shake Shack: Recipes & Stories,” comes out May 16. We got a sneak peek — here are five things we learned about the burger behemoth:
1. Shake Shack the name is iconic. But the book shares a look at what the restaurant could have been called (Shake Shack was the clear winner):
- Frostee Shake
- Madison Mixer
- Parking Lot
- Custard’s First Stand
- Dog Run
- Custard Park
2. Shake Shack started as a philanthropic hot dog cart in 2001, with profits going to Madison Square Park. But the first two years it lost money. The third year it lost money, too — even though in the past founder Danny Meyer has said otherwise. “I’ve said we made $7,500 in year three. Actually, we didn’t,” he reveals in the book. “I was just so embarrassed that we’d lost money for three years, we chose to make a bigger contribution.”
3. One of Shake Shack’s most-liked Instagram posts ever is when it announced the return of crinkle cut fries on Aug. 8, 2014 — about a year after it had switched from crinkle cut to fresh cut fries.
4. The recipe for the Chick’n Shack was two years in the making, from the marinade to the sauce to the chicken. When it landed on menus in January 2016, it was Shake Shack’s first major menu addition in a decade.
5. It’s common knowledge Shake Shack uses Martin’s Potato Rolls for its burgers. But here’s a look at some of the other brands it sources from for its menu: Vienna Beef hot dogs; Rick’s Picks relish; Guittard (chocolate sprinkles for its concretes, or milk-shakes); Nielsen-Massey (pure vanilla extract for its frozen vanilla custard); and Mast Brothers (chocolate for its frozen chocolate custard).
