In my last article I covered fast food burgers so the next obvious choice of article in the Burgerology series would be to cover what I call fast food style burgers. These burgers are still made from larger burger franchises, smaller independent chains or smaller burger shops. They also make burgers fast, but it is not the main purpose.

The fast food style places are more like “not so fast” places. It is not all about getting the burger to the customer the fastest possible way, but more to get the best quality burger to the customer, and if they have to wait a bit that is ok.

Mooyah Burger

Burgers from these places are not made from frozen meat but instead from fresh and never frozen beef. Some even grind their own meat to assure the absolute best quality and some also make their own hand made fries from fresh potatoes of the best quality. Can you taste the difference from traditional fast food franchises? Count on it! But you also have to expect to spend an additional price for this luxury. You often end up paying at least twice the money for the better quality and you also have to wait in line for a longer time and the wait after the order is also longer.

Fresh Potatoes from Mooyah

Let me mention a few examples of some well known fast food style places. 5 Guys is very famous for their high quality fast food style burgers. Another few chains are Twisted Root Burgers, Mooyah Burgers and Fries, Red Robin and Smash Burger. They all make custom burgers from scratch and the are much better than you traditional franchise burger place.

Smash Burger

At the fast food style burger places you often can get your burgers completely custom with the toppings of your choice and you get the best possible burger as fast as possible, but not close to the speed of the major burger franchises. The wait can sometimes be 10-15 minutes just to order a burger in the rush hour and you also have to wait at the end of the order for maybe 5-10 minutes. It is not nearly as fast, but you get a much better product. Yes, it is more expensive and it takes longer but the end result is also much better. Is it worth the wait? I think so, but if you are in a hurry, you are out of luck.

Red Robin Burger

Don’t expect a drive-thru at the Fast food style franchises. They usually don’t have it. The convenience is gone to some extent. They still try to make it fast, but it is not the most important part of their business model. Quality is their cornerstone and not speed of the delivery.

Are you in a hurry, but still has time for a great fresh made burger the fast food style places are the way to go; you want live to eat. If you need to eat to live, go to the fast food places where they serve a decent product in less then two minutes.

I know where I will go next time. Do you? It’s all up to you.

Kincaid's Double Burger