Thousands of Cincinnatians will be enjoying cheap burgers this week with the return of Cincinnati Burger Week, a city-wide event where you can snag a premium burger at local restaurants for $9 or less.
From July 13 to 19, nearly a hundred restaurants in the Greater Cincinnati area will serve up gourmet burgers for less than a tenner. Tony Frank, former publisher of CityBeat and current director of business development at Cincinnati Magazine, was an original founder of Burger Week when it launched in 2015 and is still involved today.
“Back then, we did a lot of in-person sampling events. Burgers, in general, don’t travel well. And restaurants don’t want to bring 1,000 samples for … something that doesn’t taste the same outside of the restaurant. So, we thought, what if we somehow do it inside the restaurant?” Frank said.
Thus, Burger Week was born, with restaurants around the city selling burgers for $5 each. At first, the idea was met with skepticism. Selling cheap burgers doesn’t initially seem profitable from a business standpoint until “consumer habits take over.”
“Yeah, the burgers were $5, but you’re having some drinks, some appetizers. Restaurants quickly realized it was a way to make money while getting new faces in the door,” Frank said. “We’ve had so many different people over the years that say ‘I found my new favorite restaurant during the week and we go there all the time.’ At the end of the day, we connect businesses with new audiences.”
These days, the event isn’t just in the city proper. While prices have gone up across the board, restaurants as far north or west as Oxford, Liberty Township and Lawrenceburg, Indiana are participating in this year’s Burger Week. But don’t walk into any of the participating eateries and expect a plain ol’ burger with two patties and a bun. These restaurants are going all out to wow their customers.
Take, for example, two burgers that Frank mentioned he’s most looking forward to trying. “The Nut Job” at Bourbon’s prominently features a steak patty lathered in peanut butter alongside melted cheddar, pineapple habanero jam, fresh arugula, and crispy onions, while the “Hot Taki Burger” at Arnold’s is exactly what it sounds like: a 1/3 Wassler beef burger, ghost pepper cheese, pickles, jalapeno-habanero aioli and crushed Fuego Hot Takis all over.
“What’s funny is my wife will always be like ‘Just because it’s Burger Week doesn’t mean you have to go out and eat eight burgers!’ But, like … I want to. It’s probably one of my favorite weeks all year,” he said, laughing. “You might find a new favorite restaurant, whether it’s because of the food, or the workers, or the sights and sounds. And you wouldn’t know about it unless you actually go and check it out.”
To incentivize guests to do so, the team behind Burger Week has created an app that lets you check in at each participating restaurant you visit and earn points. App users who earn a certain number of points or check in to five locations during the week can enter to win prizes like restaurant gift cards and a year of free burgers from Gold Star. However, using the app is not required to enjoy a cheap burger at your preferred local joint.
“These food weeks are good for the city, good for the community. They’re good economic drivers. They allow guests to get a deal and a high value on some great food,” Frank said. “Now that the U.S. is out of the World Cup, it gives us all something to rally around. There’s something for everyone in every part of the city and then some.”
For more information, check out the official Cincinnati Burger Week website.
