Shake Shack, the little New York burger joint that began 14 years ago in a hot-dog cart, just became a $ 1.7 billion behemoth. At its stock-market debut Friday morning, an investor burger binge doubled Shake Shack’s share price, sending its stock past $ 48 a share.
A modern take on Americana’s prized roadside burger stand, Shake Shack — with its big burgers, crinkle-cut fries, shakes, custard and beer — has become one of the most prominent new restaurant empires of the last decade, and its successful initial public offering only helped to show how big “fast casual” eateries can get.
Shake Shack’s success can seem a bit paradoxical when faced with the big trends of American dining: Its burger fare is relatively pricey, unhealthy and, for most Americans, hard to find.
Yet all of those points have also helped to explain why Shake Shack has shareholders so excited — and why McDonald’s still finds a lot to fear from the upstart burger stand.
The Shack’s quick rise has already helped some fans turn a profit. Jason McDonnell, 26, bought and sold Shack shares Friday morning for a $ 100 profit, then headed to try his first-ever ShackBurger.
“I figured I bought their stock and made some money, I might as well give them some business,” he said.
Since Manhattan restaurateur Danny Meyer first launched the eatery in 2001 from a hot-dog cart in Madison Square Park, 63 shacks have opened their doors in nine countries, including Russia, Turkey and Dubai.
The company has mostly operated on low sizzle: After that first cart, it took three years for the first permanent location to open and another five years after that for the second to debut. But the burger joint is now looking to expand, saying it plans to open 10 stores a year for the foreseeable future, starting in 2015.