There was a virtual grand opening ceremony and everything.
If timing is everything, one would think that opening a restaurant in this state of the world would not be such a good idea. Nevertheless, fortune favors the bold. For Sean Thomas — grandson of Dave Thomas the founder of fast-food-chain monolith, Wendy’s — just opened up his restaurant, Fresh Stack Burger, in a Chicago suburb.
To commemorate the occasion, Fresh Stack Burger held an online virtual ribbon cutting ceremony, which to their credit, panned out pretty well:
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude and extremely thankful to everyone who attended the first ever virtual restaurant grand opening!” Fresh Stack wrote on Instagram. “We had so many orders that we ran out of food during dinner time!”
In compliance with the current stay-at-home laws, the restaurant is not featuring dine-in services and is only open for drive-thru carryout.
Sean Thomas is the nephew of Melinda Lou Thomas-Morse, otherwise known as the face and namesake of the Wendy’s fast-food chain, and daughter of founder Dave Thomas.
Fresh Stack Burger does not make an effort to hide the family legacy, as described on their website:
“We come from a burger family that has learned that the key to a great burger is two-fold — you have to take pride in the sizzle of top-notch ingredients, and enjoy a stack or two for yourself along the way (you know, for quality control). Through the years, our father and our father’s father taught us the ins and outs of what it takes to serve the best burgers your table has ever seen.”
Fresh Stack features quirky menu items like Hail Caesar salad, Fries Cream Cone Shake, and Considerate Carnivore that play more of a similarity to Wendy’s Twitter account than its menu. However, its basics are pretty much the same, with a menu featuring burgers from ethically-sourced beef, a variety of chicken options, salads, ice creams and shakes, and “side kicks”.
“It’s our first day and we’re working out the kinks and the challenges we face operationally to modify our processes to deal with the effects of COVID-19 on the restaurant industry. Burger and fries were meant to be eaten right away! So, thanks for your patience; we promise to get better each and every day,” the restaurant wrote on Instagram.
While this is Sean Thomas’s first restaurant, he is presently in conversation with Top Chef contestant, Fabio Viviani on potentially opening future projects here in Chicago.
Fresh Stack Burger is located at 20413 North Rand Road in Kildeer and is currently available for online orders and curbside pickup.
[Featured image: @freshstackburger]