Shake That Shack

Last night on Facebook one of my friends commented on the happiness she was receiving while eating her Shake Shack burger and it reminded me that I'd heard from another friend that they were thinking of franchising the Shake Shack. My first thought when I heard was "Wahoo!" but after a moment of careful consideration I began wondering if it would work. Can you duplicate the Shake Shack? Can you transport it to any random U.S. city and have it be the same? I'm thinking no and this is why...

The Shake Shack is about so much more than just the burger, fries and custard. Don't get me wrong: the food is the best burger I've ever put in my mouth and puts that Western phenomenon that has recently made the folks in Utah go Lady GaGa to shame. I'm literally drooling at 8:35 in the morning just thinking about it. The Shake Shack is about the food but it is also and maybe even more importantly about the experience. You would have to re-create a world in which time is money and where fabulous food is certainly in no short supply and where any random New Yorker from all walks of life will go WAY out of their way for the experience. Take me for instance: I would have to take two trains, stand in line for 45 minutes to an hour to ORDER the food and then another 15 minutes to WAIT for the food and then sit in either boiling humid or freezing cold weather to eat the food--there's two months of the year where the weather is perfect and/or not raining cats and dogs. And not only eat it but love every single second and not for even a moment think that it wasn't worth it. A world in which my friend, let's call her Schmether, who I'm guessing has never waited for anything, stood in line for two hours for our food because I'd been lucky to get to the park early enough to beat up five grannies and a couple of kids for our seats at the US Open. Is this a place that can be re-created? They tried on the UWS and it is nice and convenient and all but that's just because everyone who has been there has had the experience at Madison Square Park and so they're okay with the strollers and the kids and the fact that there is nowhere to sit and eat. Plus, there really is something genius about having a Shake Shack and a Magnolia Bakery within ten blocks of one another. But all of that is a rite of passage--something one must go through so that you can appreciate the pure beauty and incredibleness of the burger. I do not believe that this could work in any random city: maybe in Union Square in San Francisco or Chicago or possibly even LA but certainly not Orem, Utah. I guess I'll just have to save my pennies, put on my good standing shoes and fly my butt to New York.