Journalists, locals, chiefs, employees, family and friends filled Elm City’s newest restaurant, the Shake Shack, wall-to-wall on Wednesday evening in honor of the restaurant’s housewarming celebration.
Connecticut’s newest Shake Shack sits on Chapel Street, between College and Temple Streets, and is directly across from the New Haven green. The glass store front, a 19-foot high wall made entirely out of glass, was created precisely to welcome New Haven inside the shack.
“We want to bring the outside in,” said Greg Waters, Shake Shack’s Marketing and Communications Manager.
Upon entering, guests were greeted with several delicious Shake Shack items including frozen custard, shakes, hamburgers, hotdogs, fries, wine and beer. Food was prepared fresh and served throughout the event.
The latest addition to the Shake Shack chain was designed specifically to create an environment unique to New Haven and its large college community. One exclusive feature of the restaurant includes the reclaimed wood used for wall frames, which was taken from the Yale Bowl.
Another feature unique to this location is the flavors of concretes that are only available in the Elm City location. These flavors include Boola Boola Blue, Skull and Cones, and the Elm City Coffee Break. Lastly, the Handsome Dan hotdog was named after Yales’ bulldog mascot.
“New Haven has everything we look for when opening a new Shake Shack. It’s a culturally diverse, food-loving city that also happens to have a fun, storied history with the hamburger,” said Randy Garutti, Shake Shack CEO.
The Shake Shack chain prides itself in being different from other fast food joints by creating their hotdogs and hamburgers from 100 percent natural beef. None of the shack’s food includes any hormones or antibiotics. Burgers are ground daily on location and are made with a natural trademarked blend. The French fries are free of trans fat and have about 25 percent less fat than the standard fast food fry.
Shake Shack also believes in the importance of being kind to the economy, and models this by using energy efficient kitchen equipment. One hundred percent of their electrical usage is offset through Renewal Energy Certificates and five percent of sales from the Elm City Coffee Break concrete support Solar Youth, a non-profit organization that empowers youth thorough environmental exploration, leadership and community service.
Originally opened as a hotdog stand at New York’s Madison Square Park in 2004, the Shake Shack has since grown to 17 locations worldwide including locations in the Middle East and Kuwait.
Shake Shack is located on 986 Chapel St. in New Haven, and is opened from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. daily.
