Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Battle of the Burgers:
A War of Worlds

by Megan Considine

Sometimes restaurants - chain and independent alike - can learn a thing or two from the fast-food industry. Burger King and McDonalds have used burgers as their key player in the lunch and dinner appeal for decades! They have doubled them, layered them, even decorated them... and they still remain the largest burger industries in the world.

Long a mainstay in American cuisine, the burger has gained a new distinction. It has helped to fuel the first increase in lunch visits at casual dining restaurants in five years! The burger wars have now turned into a fierce and heated battle among chain restaurants like Chili's or Applebee's where they offer deals like “$6 between 4-10pm” or “$1 beer with a new burger.” McDonald's has struggled with their burger sales while others have thrived. The increase in lunch sales, dinner sales, and late night sales nationwide all have had one thing in common:


They have beefed up their burger (pun intended).

We aren't sure what has taken our chain competitors so long to jump on the bandwagon, but at the Uptown, we've been perfecting the art of the burger for over 5 years now and have marketed it accordingly. We offer our burgers all day, everyday!

Our Thursday special is devoted to the burger lovers. For just $10, we offer our special burger with any one of our sides - chips, coleslaw, fries, pasta salad or potato salad. But it gets better... to wash down the tasty meal, we offer a draft or microbrew beer included in the deal. When you come in on Thursdays, your decision is easy, effortless and requires little to no thought. Our burger-me crowd is growing all the time!

This past week, we set a record. With 47 burgers sold in just one day, the caprese burger (which featured fresh heirloom tomatoes, mozzarella, garlic aioli and hints of basil) stole the show and has provided some steep competition. It takes an army to come up with better and better ideas each week, but our classics through the years have included:


italian stallion - aloha burger
taco salad burger - mac daddy burger
waffle burger - rise n shine burger
BLT burger - pulled pork burger
guinness burger - bloody mary burger
PBJ burger (just to name a few)

We try to keep it original, and we give our readers first glimpse at them each week in our newsletter. (What has been your favorite? Any suggestions for us to try? We'd love to hear about them!)

It might seem counter-intuitive for casual dining restaurants to highlight burgers as beef prices remain elevated, but part of the strength of burgers is that customers choose a less expensive and more artistic approach to beef entrees.

Whatever the reason, we love our burger fans!  And our burgers aren't going anywhere... even when the chains move onto something else. Whether you've been in for our burgers before, have never tried them or are one of the first to try the new one each week, stop down and see us soon!



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