Fine Dining - Smashburger Comes From Fast Food Royalty

Episode Date: June 24, 2026

🍔🥩 Smashburger: McGriddle Meets Quizno's, The "Smash Pass," and False Advertising 🥩🍔 This week, my wonderful guest Bennett Cohen (@bennettrcohen) joins me to dive into the history of Smashburger, a burger brand created by one of the most influential minds in fast food history Tom Ryan (the guy who invented the McGriddle). From custom-forged burger presses to being named America's most promising company by Forbes, Smashburger's history is, at the very least, surpising. 🍔 Smashburger Was Founded by a Literal Fast Food Legend in Tom Ryan 📈 Forbes Named Smashburger the "Most Promising Company" in 2012 🎟️ The $54 "Smash Pass" That Offered 54 Burgers in 54 Days ⚖️ You Can't Say "Double the Beef" When It's The Same Amount of Beef 🎵 We Offer Smashburger a Jingle in the Style of Yacht Rock 🌎 Smashburger Was Acquired by Jollibee Very Slowly 🔥 The Heat Lamp: Bennett Claims Lactose Intolerance Is a State of Mind 💥 Yelp from Strangers: A Customer and Employee Are Actually Beefing (And We Get to Hear Both Sides!!) 💬 COMMENT BELOW: Would you actually use the Smash Pass? 📢 SUPPORT THE SHOW & JOIN THE COMMUNITY: 🎉 Patreon (Bonus episodes, extended Yelp segments & more): patreon.com/finediningpodcast 💬 Discord (Food talk, memes, cursed Yelp): discord.gg/6a2YqrtWV4 🎥 Watch full episodes: youtube.com/channel/UCLbraNhL6KhDPkdSWt2yiuw 🔗 All links: linktree.com/finediningpodcast 🎤 Guest: Bennett Cohen | IG: @bennettrcohen Patreon Producers:Sue Ornelas, Joyce Van, & Robert McLaughlin Patreon Subscribers:David Ornelas, Kellie Baldwin, Jeremy Horwitz, Herbert Amaya, Simone Davalos, Scott Bennett, Amy Reinhart, Josef Castaneda-Liles, Travis Langley, Jewell Hermann, & Michelle Elmer Free Patreon Followers:Joe Warszalek, Lauren Cummings, Grace Krainak, Keri Estes, Robert Duran, Patrick Elliott, Dave Plummer, Nicholas Volney, Michael Gerard, Tracy Molino, Phuong Duong, Tyler Robinson, Brandon Gully, Mason Cruz, Michael Milito, Mez, Aaron Hubbard, Steff, Renae Michael, Crystal C., & NiZ

Is the Smashburger chain on its way out or back up? A chain founded by one of the true legends in the chain restaurant game, Smashburger was created almost 20 years ago by food scientist Tom Ryan, who has a Ph.D. in flavor and fragrance chemistry. While Smashburger didn't invent the idea of thin beef patties with charred, crispy edges, they certainly brought it into the mainstream. With over 370 locations at their peak, smashburger has been prominent enough to deservedly trace its name into the wet concrete of major burger fixtures.

But one pandemic later and a transfer of ownership to Filipino powerhouse Jollybee, Smashburger is still trying to regain its footing, having closed almost half of its restaurants in recent years. They've also lost millions on some pretty avoidable false advertising settlements. This week on the show, I'll smash my beef of knowledge onto your griddle of curiosity so that you two may know everything I've learned about Smashburger. Then we'll direct our attention to the people of Yelp to see what they're saying about the very Smashburger we dined at. This is the Fine Dining Podcast.

Your table's ready. Take your seat. The flavor of the day is mediocre to try. I forgot what the word is it for, but you know, like, how Band-Aid is now both the brand and the product itself. Or Q-Tip or. how in the south, like, can I get a Coke? What kind of Coke do you want?

Sprite. Yeah. Which, an abomination. That's a crazy one. That's a crazy one. Hello, and welcome to the fine dining podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I'm your host, Michael Ornellis, and this is the podcast where we dive deep into the history of

your favorite chain restaurants and then thoroughly review them one week later by comparing them to chilies. This week, we're covering the number seven seed in this year's Septemberger tournament, smash burger. And joining me is a performer and improviser you can see performing with his team Orion's belt at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. His vibe is, what if Jamiriqui's hat became a real person and he's got genuinely kind eyes? It's Bennett Cohen. Oh, hi, everyone.

Oh, my goodness. Thank you for that. Yeah. hilarious, lovely intro. How's it going? It's going really good. We're well fed. I'm ready to talk.

You know, we're on the cusp of well fed. overfed. True. It's like if in in my day to day life, if I ate this much, I'd be asleep right now. Yeah. But I'm not miserable. Definitely not. Had you ever been? Do you have a history with Smashburger? If I've been, it would just have been one or two times. Yeah, I mean, I feel like this sort of medium upscale burger place is like becoming or not because it has been ubiquitous. If I'm using that word correctly. So I definitely, I didn't feel out of place. placing this smash burger. I've probably been to one smash burger before. I know that I've been to one in an airport. I don't remember which airport, but I think it was Austin, but it very well may not have

been. I don't feel confident enough saying that. And I remember being kind of underwhelmed by it, which is why it is the number seven seed in September, because the seeding is based on the best burger I've ever had there. How is it? So that's my history and your history with the smash burger chain. Do you want to hear the history of the smashburger chain? I definitely do. All right. We're going to jump into this week's eat deets. Eatery details. Smashburger launched in Denver in 2007 through Consumer Capital Partners with Restaurant Royalty Tom Ryan and Rick Shodden as the key founders behind the concept. Tom Ryan is the perverted genius behind Pizza Hut stuffed crust and the McDonald's Mick Griddle.

while Rick Shodden brought chain building experience after his years bringing Quiznos to prominence. Wow. Okay. So good to know. I wanted to guess that they're probably from Colorado because of the menu. I've never heard of a Colorado smash. I was like, is that a type of burger I should know? Or is that them putting their own spin on it?

Well, I'll get into it in another fact. But they actually do localized burgers to different regions. that they're in. No kidding. But I guess it didn't occur to me the fact that the Colorado one is available outside of Colorado. So that should have actually

been a good tip off. It also interests me that that one guy has created hit things for multiple. The McGriddle? Yeah. He did the McDonald's dollar menu. Pizza Hut stuff,

Crest Pizza. Like he is a mad scientist of chain restaurant recipes that have like exploded. Yeah. And I just love that he's had hits at different places. It's almost like LeBron winning a championship in Miami and Cleveland. I think I pictured maybe the restaurant world being more, you know, protective.

Like if this is our star food scientists, like you can't work for Pizza Hut. You're our guy. But this is also McDonald's and Pizza Hut guy goes and works with Quiznows guy. Yeah. So this is like a super group. Definitely. This is like when your two favorite bands like, oh, they're like. Mashed. Yeah, it's, um, because of this guy, there's now non-compete contracts all over fast food.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's the last of a dying breed. He worked for everyone. NDAs. All that kind of stuff. You can't even talk about what you've seen him do in a kitchen. Yeah. Smashburger sold itself on a proprietary smash method using custom forged presses and a hot buttered seasoned grill to build a crisp sear fast. It rounded that out with 100% Angus beef, rosemary garlic smash fries, and hand-spun Hagen-Daz shakes, which helped it feel more of a better burger joint than plain fast food. Better Burger is the, like, the industry term for those, like, elevated burger-type restaurants that you were talking about earlier. Oh, yeah. Good to know that. The Better Burger boom was like a movement.

Yes. It definitely, it's squarely a better burger establishment for me. Yeah. Like, I liked the quality. that's interesting. I feel like watching the burgers get pressed, I feel like if you judge, if you mark success by this, like I feel like that's now something I see outside of Smashburger.

Like I can picture people pressing the patties like that. And I'm trying to think of places I've gotten smash burgers that is not Smashburg, but you said proprietary. Does that mean at first they, are you trying to have like? I think their specific press is what's proprietary. They did not invent the idea of Smashburgers.

That I found dated back to like the 60s. Okay. But they kind of brought it back to the mainstream. Yeah. And I imagine intellectual property lies. It's hard to have a patent on a food. On a food. But yeah, but the press itself, that makes sense.

Yeah. Like food implements, kitchen implements. You can very well be like, this is our thing. This is our process. I'm like, yeah. Like is Mike's way? what's it called public domain? That's the thing like

I don't think it is but the like way that their cap shoots out two streams that that's got to be proprietary like you can't punch two holes in the top of your bottle your oil bottle. Not without giving me five cents. Not without giving me five cents.

By March 2011, Smashburger said it had about 100 stores nationwide and was aiming to double that by 2012. Later that year, Forbes named it America's most promising company, and the chain said it had reached 143 restaurants. Smashburger's own current brand history still boasts that it hit the 200-plus unit milestone earlier than any other fast casual concept. Is that when a restaurant has gone platinum? Like, if we're thinking about, like, music?

Yeah, I don't know what the bar. Like, I would just, to me, a hundred sounds. Yeah. Right. 100 restaurants, but they're from Colorado. My guess it would be that they have a higher concentration in Colorado. Totally. So it's like, let's say they have 20 in Colorado and now 80 outside or even more there.

Because places like this are what tend to become local sensations makes it feel smaller still outside of the place that it's from. Yeah, that makes sense. I would agree because I don't think I think of Smashburger as huge, but clearly they're getting. out there. But 200 does feel like a critical mass. Yeah. I agree. I was going to say, so Forbes, the most promising

restaurant, most promising business? Most promising, like, company. Yeah. That's that is crazy. In 2012, like, I like to think that Smashburger won it in 2012 and 2013, like Uber or something. It's like, yeah, we won that before Uber. Yeah.

Yeah. Ride share. which will revolutionize, like, like drastically cutting down, like drinking and driving and, like, giving people. And then it's just like, well, we put a weight on our burger on a griddle. Yeah. Oh, my God. And rosemary on our fries.

And rosemary on our fries. Which was a nice touch. Yeah. Honestly. Yeah. Yeah. We'll, we'll review them next week. But I am a fan of that, that blend.

Yeah. No. And not to be a tech fan boy, but I just, It's funny to think that in 2012, the most influential business was a better burger joint. I just picture like on the cover, the guy who invented the McGrittle in like a black turtleneck, like, looking like inquisitive. The Steve Jobs of burgers. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like that's the magazine cover for best business in America, the most promising business.

Yeah, I feel like that's a trivia question waiting to happen. And like what, what Forbes business like in the last 20 years was a food place? Yeah. Also, like, I just don't agree. It's not even that this place was bad, but I just don't agree that it deserves that hype. Yeah, because I think 2012, like so much of the world was changing. It's like even if it was the best restaurant ever, it's not like you've invented the concept of restaurant. I think in 2012 there must have been a business that was like revolutionizing something.

And I tend to think that that is the most. influential. Right. This might be my first time hearing of this award and now I'm just like, I want to nerd out and know I want to know every business that's one most influential business. I didn't research deep enough. I should have brought you the full. That's okay. That's my backlog. That's my homework. Smashburger has had some noteworthy marketing tactics. One early hook was localization, city-specific burgers like a fried pickle Oklahoma burger in Tulsa, the Colorado Smash filled with green chilies, and their Brooklyn Smash burger, which was topped with Estramey, and by 2013 Smashburger was already on TV in seven markets bragging about their

ingredient quality and the smash technique. That same spirit carried into the 2014 hashtag smash road trip campaign, which hit 20 cities and made about two million impressions. And then in 2017, Smash Burger debuted the Smash Pass, a $54 promo that let loyalty members buy an entree for $1 a day for 54 days, which to me feels like 54 bucks up front and then you could come get a burger daily for 54 days. And that feels like a timeshare. Yeah, I mean, I was going to say it's like AMCA list. It's burgers. Yeah, it's B list. Yeah. It's burger list. That's fascinating. I'm dying to know how that work, like how successful the smash pass was. Also, I do love that it feels like a wordplay of smash her pass. Yeah. Like it's a one word. It's one missing two letters.

to be Smashers Pass and highly sexualized burger marketing is Carl's Jr.'s territory. Yes, exactly. You know, let's leave that to the pros. Yeah, I am. So let's do a thought experiment. Like if the Smash Pass came out today, would you, so it's $54.

I don't live close enough to a Smash Burger, but even if proximity. Let's imagine if you did, yeah. No, I don't think I would. Because like the value is rarely the thing that gets me to a place. Sure, if there's like a, oh, there's a free burger. today or a 30 cent burger or whatever it is. I'm interested, but unless it's one of the places that I like going to regularly

anyways, I'm probably not doing it. It's like having 54 smash burgers is not going to convert me into more of a smash burger guy. You have to already be a smash burger guy to commit to 54 burgers. Yeah. So you pay $54 and it starts a 54 day period where each day you could. go claim your burger. Am I getting that? I'm unclear on that. I'm unclear on if it was that or if it was $1 burgers for 54 days. But that seems like you're losing money. I think they're asking for the $54.

And it's like AMCA A list. They're saying, I bet you won't have 54 burgers. And you know what? You could see these burgers in IMAX if you want. But you know. Yeah. I recently canceled my A list. Did you? Just because I'm like, I rather buy one movie ticket a month than feel. Like, I got to get to two a month. But, but, but of course, the, I could be convinced. Like, they keep, they keep hiking the prices. And that is true. So it's like, I am the marginal consumer at AMC.

So if you, if you're watching this and you bring that $1 back down, you might. Nicole Kidman. You might convert one more person. I like to think that you're talking to her directly. Yeah. Call me. I feel like a lot of places, even if they're successful, like, they open a few restaurants, they have success, they expand. It sounds like Smash Burger had like its moment in the

spotlight. Yes. Very much so. And it does, and we'll get to it soon, it does feel like it's not their time anymore. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we're in Los Angeles. So you got to, you got to capitalize on that. Well, and especially, I don't know how it is nationwide, but I know L.A. actually has a pretty active smash burger scene. And by smash burger, I don't mean the brand. I mean the, like the concept of a griddled thin patty. There's places like for the wind. There's the window.

There's burger she wrote. There's heavy handed. There's easy street. There's all these places where you can go and get like a really good thin paddied smash burger. Yeah. And I think you can get it like at like street vendors too. Yeah.

It's all over the place. And so I feel like their. cashing the check that the Smashburger chain wrote. I would agree. I would definitely agree with that, which, which, um, that, that makes me, uh, sad, but proud of, of Smashburger for, um, for starting that charge. Yeah. Ownership changed in stages, starting with Jollybee's 2015 purchase of a 40% stake in a deal

that valued Smashburger at $335 million, which was essentially $1 million for each location they had at that point in time. So in 2015, they were at about 336 locations, is what I saw. Jolly Bee raised that to 85% ownership in 2018 for another $100 million and said by December 2018 that it owned Smash Burger outright. So Jolly Bee was all in, well, literally the opposite of all in. They were hedging their bets. And then as it went better and better for them, they were like, okay, okay, fine.

I respect a is that the opposite of a hostile takeover they're like we're getting to know you first Yeah, I I wish I could buy everything I buy 40% 80% and just really make sure if I had if I could buy video games at the rate of how much I of them I actually play through yes I would save money because I either 100% games and spend way too much time on them. Totally. Or I play like the first chapter or two of it. And I'm like, I don't know if I'm ever going to touch it again. Yeah. I wish you had one in 20 games.

I could say, I own this game outright. Yeah. It's also just funny wording. Yeah. In 2021, Smash Burger's Triple Double Burger was the target of a class action lawsuit over false marketing claims that produced a settlement of 8.5. million dollars between cash and vouchers. Their standard burgers had five-ounce patties, and the triple-double, which they marketed with the slogan, double the beef, actually contained

two, 2.5-ounce patties, which is literally the same amount of beef. This wasn't the first time that Smashburger landed in hot water, as in 2017 in an out-suit smashburger over the name triple-double, arguing it was too close to its own double-double and triple-tripple trademarks. Wow. Controversy strikes. I have some strong opinions on this one. I just, I'm from Southern California my whole life. I really love in and out. Stanched defender. Yeah, I like ordering off the secret menus. Yeah, I off my order is often a three by three or a three by two. Uh huh. Um, which is, um, which is interesting to hear you say in those terms. You're not calling them triple double or triple triple triple. You're calling it three by three or three by two. Exactly. So maybe this is this is complicated. This is, um, My brother's in law school right now. What does In-N-Out have ownership of? Because have you heard of the In-N-Out Secret menu

where you would order by blank by blank, and that's meat by cheese. Well, for me, it's always just one because my cheese is always by zero. I get a three-by-zero. Which multiplying anything by zero is zero. Yeah, but I mean, a funny fact story that's a little off-topic. If you order a three-by-three, then they call it a three-by-three.

three, but if you order a three by two, they call it a double, double extra patty. And I think that's just getting to see how their like system does all the math once they're plugging in your order. Their system sounds autistic. Yeah, it has a very special way. It likes it very particularly. My, uh, I had a friend I played hockey with growing up who would order two five by fives, which is the most that you, they'll let you order, they'll let you order a 10 by 10, but you can't order two five by fives and he made it 10 by 10, kind of just as a stunt for us to watch. And it was thoroughly entertaining. At some point, your mouth can't do it.

Yeah, there's a picture somewhere. He's like eating it from the side. And yeah, it's, it's a operation. But sorry, back to Smashburger. So they're, they're calling it a triple double. I think, I think if I was in and out, I would feel infringed upon. Like, the double double is in and out. Yeah, I guess.

I feel like the words single double and triple are like, like Dave's double is, Wendy's. Okay, true. Those are pretty common words. It's a pretty common measurement. Yeah. So, yeah, I get that being like the way you refer to it relative to the amount of cheese and beef is a specific thing to in and out. But I think those words are generic enough that you can't really.

Yeah, got it. But let's talk about what I think is the more upsetting thing, which is this double double that is double the beef. That is the same amount of beef. That is shady. Double the beef, same amount of ounces of beef, just cut in half. Yeah. I mean, that's what makes me not want to leave the house and not trust anyone. But that is crazy.

But they lost $8.5 million on that. As a result of it. In cash. And then they had to issue 1.5 million vouchers to correct it. And that was valued at $3 million. dollars. So just by saying double the beef and not delivering on it, it cost them millions of dollars. Wow. Yeah. So maybe they, they learn their lesson. Maybe. But you have to have known. Like, that seems so egregious to just be like, we're giving you double the thing. Yeah. I also want to know how they got caught.

Like I don't, I think. Well, I mean, there's crazy customers. That's what I was. was going to say like I don't think I'm the right person to do it but there must be someone who who goes once a week or or slightly less frequently who's just like wait a second I don't feel that much more full I don't feel like that took me longer to eat like there was a guy who brought a food scale with him to Texas Roadhouse wow and they're like 24 ounce steak or something like that was like 21 ounces or something and he sued them in one wow like the price of the steak or Just, well, no, just like... Oh, because the idea is maybe they're doing this on a larger scale.

On a larger scale. So it's like your, it's literal false advertising. Yeah. So. And then their argument was like, well, it loses mass when it, when you cook it. And it's like, sorry, you called it this. And I didn't get, I didn't receive this. Yeah.

I'm sorry. I'm aside with the consumer here. Yeah. Smashburger's footprint has come down hard from its peak. Smashburger said it had 235 location. and 32 states and seven countries in September of 2024. Jolly B's year end 2024 filing counted 214 stores, so down 21, and then QSR, Quick Service Restaurant, described it as a 190 unit chain in March of 2026. So it's dwindling. The current strategy

is less about world domination and more about repair. Value menus, a broader rebrand built around the slogan, Belief is in the bite, and a push to return to positive net unit growth between 2026 and 2027 through airports, military bases, and other non-traditional sites. It's very interesting. I've never thought about any of this quite so deeply yet. Thank you for having me. It's so fun.

This is so fun. I think airports need good restaurants. Yeah. I think like. And I think recognition helps. Yeah. Because you're like, when you're walking through an airport, you're looking for something you recognize that you can get quickly and go, you're not looking to be like, what's this place?

Like a new or like a mom and pop, I just think an airport is a place where you're kind of destined to fail. Yeah, I feel like airport dining. I mean, I wonder if there's, it's probably more, it's probably difficult to lease and run a restaurant in an airport terminal because I think if it was easier, maybe the experience would be slightly better. Like, I just think, yeah, you see a lot of like one-off's places or like, or even if it is a chain's like a limited menu that can be disappointing.

But yeah, if there's a smash burger in an airport terminal with like the menu that we saw today, I'd be thrilled. I mean, given that my first smashburger experience was in an airport terminal and it wasn't great. I mean, that's also part of it is like maintain the quality. Yeah, I find a way to. Definitely. I think, I can't think of any examples right now, but I just think like, well, I guess I think in LAX there's like a chick flay. And I'm like, this is chick filet. Yeah.

Like, it's not always what I. I'm craving the most, but I'm like, but it, there's not a fall off from a location in the wild to in the terminal. And that's impressive. Some places, yeah, are much more built for consistency. Yeah, so their numbers are dwindling. Because their peak was about 360 something units and they're now at 190. Yeah.

It's interesting hearing that one of their like strategies currently is like, oh, well, if they really hear our slogan, like belief is in the bite. Like we'll get a hundred more restaurants. I'm like, it's going to have to be a pretty darn good slogan, I think, to revive 100 restaurants. I think invest in your restaurants, improve them. But improve them in material ways, not necessarily just the slogan. I think better than a slogan is a jingle. Okay.

I think a jingle is much more likely to get stuck in my head and make me think about a place random. Like I'll be driving and then like chilies, baby back ribs. we'll still occasionally pop into my head. I'm a baby bag, baby back, baby back. And like, I think that there's so much value in like the earworm nature of a jingle. So right now, let's come up with a smash burger jingle. Okay, is our text belief is in the vibe, but we got to put it to music. I think we could change it if we want to.

So I guess we have to pitch on what we want the lyric to be and then we got to. Yeah. Burgers that make you. want to smash. Hey, there we go. Honestly, I'm into that. That's pretty good. I mean, Arby's is going to come knocking down.

Or Carl's Jr. Who's the sexy burger? Yeah, Carl's Jr. They're going to come knocking down our door for that one. Yeah. Yeah. They're like, don't give it to them. We want it.

It's like, sorry, your thing is char-grilled. You don't do smash. We'll change, baby. We can change. A bidding war for our, for our burger. All right. So we have the slogan. What's the jingle sound like?

I'm hearing like a Michael McDonald's, like burgers make you want to smash oh my god i like something like that yeah i've been listening to uh what a fool believes like on non-stop this week i yeah unironically love uh michael macdon yeah no me too let me hear your take on the on the uh doesn't have to be michael macdonald but what would you're well now i just i want to try that one and then too i would burgers that make you want to smash it's great you won't pass on these burgers jingle that's obviously too long. Do you think Smashburger feels like bamboozled that like they had their moment of fame that like not all restaurants do.

Like there's successful restaurants that that don't have that period but also sustain. And they almost got a taste of stardom and now are having to like, you know, live a live a normal life. They kind of lived like the Jersey Shorecast. I was going to say. Like same time period too. They were big. And then they're like, they still think they're famous. I do.

I get that vibe. You know? Yeah. Yeah. And they, they just, they don't want to move to the suburbs yet. They're not ready to like settle. Yeah. So, anyways, that'll do it.

For this week's eat deets. Fun done. Bennett, I know behind that smile is a raging tempest of questionable viewpoints. This next segment is your opportunity to risk cancellation for how you feel about food and restaurants. It's time for the heat lamp. Bennett, what is your under my heat lamp? My heat lamp.

Heatlam. I'm not so hot right now. Bennett, what is your food hot take? Lactose intolerance is a mindset. It's a state of, it's a state of like doubt. in your head? It smells your fear. Yeah, it smells your fear.

And then, of course, it manifests. I feel like ultimately I would identify as lactose tolerant. But I see, but I, but they're as, as, as I get older. I look how you're using the word identify. I identify as lactose tolerant. Not my body handles lactose well. It's, I made a choice. Yeah.

I, I just think that there are times where I doubt myself and then sure enough, I, I struggle to tolerate lactose, but when I put my mind to something, everything works out fine. So I, yeah, I mean, I know that there are some people who are going to disagree with it, but I'm just saying, just give it a try, you know, find a safe place to experiment with lactose and see what happens, see if you can't mind over matter your way into a good milkshake. You deserve that every once in a while. I like a safe place to experiment with like like a three day weekend at home, not at Coachella. Yes. Clear your calendar.

Not a place where it's like porta potty's only. You need like your home bidet, you know. Exactly. I think I could be like a shaman for lactose experiences. Like I could be with someone while they experiment with it and help them through it. Like an ayahuasca like trip or something. They're like puking. You're like, everyone does this.

This is part of it. Yeah. I offer these milkshake retreats. And, yeah, join me in the desert for that. It's like $700. You wish. Oh, way, way, way more. Yeah.

That's crazy and just kind of scientifically untrue. I guess where it comes from is just my feeling like it depends on the day. Because I think in general, I think a lot of our experience with food is like, is it something objective about the food or is it how we are when we have that food on that day, if that makes sense? In terms of like when you have a reaction to it that's negative? Yeah, or even positive, where I think about it like with cravings, like what's going on chemically, biologically, like could, I just think like sometimes certain restaurants that I would consider my favorites, there are days where I'm like, oh, I couldn't go near that. So I feel like a different person in that way.

I'm going to say something that might actually corroborate your point, and it has to do with my innate stubbornness. Okay. I have Crohn's disease. I have like a digestive issue where like my immune system attacks my colon. A lot of people with digestive tract diseases have dietary restrictions. And I was hospitalized for 28 days in 2010 for this. and I had a very, very good and attentive gastroenterologist overseeing me. Shout out Dr. Lubin.

He would like tell me the things that I need to avoid while I'm like having a flare up, while I like literally am just like kind of dying, you know? Sure. And then I get through it. I get, you know, I've been in remission pretty much since late 2010. and, you know, my mom would go with me to some of those appointments and, like, would just beg multiple doctors that we saw to tell me that there were certain foods I had to avoid because she wants me to eat better. And they were like, if he's not having a flare up, he can have whatever. If you notice certain foods affect you negatively, stay away from that food.

And I think my mindset has just been, well, they said I can eat whatever. And I have seen no correlation between any specific food and when I get symptoms. Okay. And even when I do get symptoms, they very, they don't last very long. I'm very lucky in like how under control my condition has been for the duration that I've had it. But my mindset of I can eat whatever I want, I do eat whatever I want and it doesn't really affect it. Yeah. And so it might be mind over matter.

I think there's something there, and I, like, which doesn't make it like a, a trick that you could always use, because mind over matter is like, you can't fake that, if that makes, like,

but, but yeah, I, thank you for corroborating. Did that resonate, like, in the, in the spirit of what you were saying?

I think so. I mean, I think obviously talking about, like, how your body, like, like, digestive stuff.

It's like, no two people have the exact same experience. So that's why I was shy of my hot take. But I think there's some universality to it. I mean, it's the same thing as like people who really hate a certain food. And then you find out that they haven't tried it in 10 years. It's like it could be that could be your mind. I'm not going to do cheese.

I'm not going to do cheese. Okay. Okay. And that's fine. I feel your judgment. I feel it. Thank you for putting yourself out there and risking your cancel. It is now time to turn our attention to other people and hear what they thought about the smashburger that we went to in this week's Yelp from strangers.

We need a little yelp, a little yelp, a little yelp from strangers. A one star, two star, three star, four or five, y'i. So get a little yelp, strangers. A little yelp, a little yelp, give us those complaints while you literally want. This is Yelp from Strangers, our segment where we turn to Yelp and read out our favorite. One, two, three, four, and five star Yelp reviews. Do you mind if I start with the first one? No.

Two star review. This is from Rob B from El Sagundo, California on December 30th, 2024. It's a two star review. National Cheeseburger Day is a tough day to work in this. business. But Bethany, the person that was assembling orders, had a smart-ass attitude for everyone that did not have a smile on their face that was picking up food. My hats off to Joanna and the other two guys that were working the stove. Joanna had been working from 8 a.m. and was working her butt off. How does he know their schedules? But I mean, that is that is crazy.

That's crazy. But it also, is it crazy that it's kind of giving him? some like credibility. He did the research. And nice like appeal to Pothos where he's like, look, I know National Cheeseburger Day is not an easy day to work in this industry, the burger industry. Like, oh, what do you do for work? I'm in burgers. Oh, this is basically your Black Friday. Yeah, like National Cheeseburger Day. Yeah. Wish I got the two guys names to give them a shout out. Can't wait to taste the food. First time I've been here. Place looked clean minus Bethany. Bethany catching a stray. He didn't like Bethany. Update. I know it's been a bit. Ben back and service is great. He heard from Brittany. He changed the name now. I guess her name actually

was Brittany. Okay. Heard from Brittany and this is what she responded with. Hope she is not working there anymore. I have beef with you. Don't ever leave no review about me on Smashburger Yelp page again, because then I will have to come find you and deal with you myself. Get a bag and go to work instead of politicking about children on Yelp. Wow. This is elevated to a full scale beef. This is a full scale beef with an, with the edit. And I like that she's like instead of about, uh, about children on Yelp. Yeah. How old, like, is Brittany or Bethany, like, a teen?

Like, she's working her first job. And someone's coming for her on Yelp, and she's like, bro, get a life or I'm going to come find you. Oh, my God. Not even a veiled threat. Just a threat. I am, my heart leaped at first. I thought the edit was going to be the Britney redemption arc, but Britney doubled down.

He dug a deeper hole. Yeah. Oh, these, I feel like my stance in a lot of these conflicts, I feel like there's some blame to go around. Sure. I think that's the nuance to take. Yeah. I'm going to go out on a limb. I'm going to go out on a limb and choose both sides. Mistakes were made. Yeah. Five star review. Ooh, this is a five star review from Mel's G from July 29th, 2023. might be their third burger reviews, so they're an expert. Three's all the take. Wow.

Five stars, OMG. It was so delectable and tasty. I decided to stop in, thankfully, and my mouth was watering. I just saw it on Yelp and had to try. The shake was bustin' all in my mouth. I hate that phrasing. Yeah. Whoa.

The shake was bustin all in my mouth. Makes me uncomfortable to hear. me uncomfortable to say makes me uncomfortable to visualize and I am visualizing it. Yeah, Mel's like this is kind of, I feel like that's how I type as well, but that's sort of the thing that after my unfiltered brain types it out, I go back and I do some self, self-editing. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Where I'm like, does it pass the middle school test? Don't name your kid. Shake was bustling all in my mouth. Who would? He'll get bullied in elementary school.

I'm just saying. But the shake that was bust in all my mouth and absolutely delectable, if I do say so myself, in my humble opinion, Emily was the nicest cashier and she helped me and went above and beyond. I think she should get a raise such good recommendations. Not a ton of punctuation going on here. This is like a stream of consciousness. Yep. Happy rant.

I would say this feels this is a thirsty yelp a little bit. I think Yelp reviews that mention an employee and gush, specifically if it feels like it's someone of the opposite sex, often reads as like a kind of like a pick me kind of vibe. Yeah, I could see that. Like the next time Mels goes into this smashburger like, hey, Emily, did you see what I wrote about you? Did your boss say, great job? You got a, you got a mention? Yeah. Do you know about like the Yelp like preferred?

Like if you get, I don't know what it's called, but if you. Maybe it's Yelp Elite. Like this also strikes me as maybe people trying to get that status because once you have that status, you're getting free meals. You're getting lots of perks because the restaurants know that your review and can make or break them. I need to get Yelp Elite. I'm realizing.

Best friendliest customer service, I would recommend it to everyone. The facility was clean and calming. Come here. Make sure to tip because they deserve it. I gave them a big fat tip. This all still reads like he wants Emily to see this. Yeah. Yeah.

And it makes me mildly uncomfortable. Yeah, well. Big fat tip. Yeah. I don't like fat. I don't like busting in my mouth. Yeah. This thing, like I.

It's evocative. The calling attention to yourself giving a great tip. It's. Look at me. Yeah. Put big money down. It's like, do you have to talk about your tip? And by the way, you pressed a button on an iPad.

Yeah. Tipping has never been easier. So we have to stop patting ourselves on the back. You need to stop making it sound like you went through an ordeal. Yeah. Now, if this said I tipped in cash, I would say, let's go. Mels, you're carrying cash. Like, bussam.

Letting people get these tax-free tips. Now, that's something that I would give Yelp elite status. but not this one. I like how you're referring to give Yelp elite status like a like a congressional medal of honor like you you walk behind them and you like tie it around their neck and they're like saluting or something just as Yelp elite. Yeah. For for for great service to Yelp.

Yeah. Thank you for your service. Hey there. It's me, Michael. And now that we're in season four, I'm adding more content to my Patreon. Not only can you hear the extended Yelp from Stranger segment with three more reviews, and not only can you get an exclusive full episode covering an extra chain restaurant on the last day of each month, but I've added an extra chat with my guests where we discussed their go-to fast food and chain restaurants

and talk about why they love them so much. I hope you'll come check it out, and you can get your first week completely free of charge. That's patreon.com slash fine dining podcast. I appreciate and love you all. back to the episode. And that's part one. Yeah. Tune in next week as we tell you what we thought about our meal at Smashburger.

Bennett, thanks so much for joining me. Tell people where they can follow you on socials. Thank you. Yeah. I'm just on Instagram at Bennett R. Cohen. And Bennett is two ends and two T's. And yeah, come see me improvise in L.A. Hell yeah.

And you can follow this show on Instagram and TikTok at Find. podcast. You can join my Discord and talk to me about food opinions or like video games or board games or like whatever you want. Just come say hi. I'm there. I'm responsive. I have a pulse. Don't try and sell me a used MacBook air. That's been happening a lot from scam accounts to keep joining my Discord. But I'll delete them and I'll keep deleting them so you don't have to see them. But we're not interested in your used MacBook. And then I also have a Patreon. If you want an exclusive episode every single month that covers a restaurant that you don't hear on the main feed, as well as the full extended Yelp from Stranger segments and an interview segment with my guests

where we talk about their preferred restaurant chain rotations. But join us next week as we review the place. We're just going to be sitting here waiting on our table in the meantime. Thank you so much for watching. I love each and every one of you. Have a fine day. done and we had some fun now we're waiting hard day for waiting us next time we're stuck in line waiting on a day by search for mediocrity