Benjamin and Katie Grant engineered the creation of the 100lb sirloin steak cheeseburger, which was 16 inches tall and four feet in diameter. The public were invited to buy tickets to see the creation of the burger, with all sale proceeds going to a local food bank. The burger was so big that the owners said it could easily feed 100 people.
“We’re unsure if anyone has ever attempted to make a 100lb medium rare burger, but that was the goal,” said Dirigo Public House owner Benjamin Grant.
There were no fillers or preservatives in the burger, just house-ground bottom round and sirloin beef. It took more than seven hours to cook the burger and two 70lb buns from scratch, but the business was not interested in setting a world record – only about producing the best-tasting cheeseburger.
‘Great’ business impact
“It wasn’t dry and gross like a lot of world record-setting burgers that are cooked to shoe leather,” said Grant.
The burger was smothered in a smoked tomato and bacon mayonnaise, with Pineland Farm cheddar cheese, beefsteak tomatoes and Bermuda onions.
Local residents from Yarmouth, in the US state of Maine, were able to buy tickets to see the unveiling of Dirigo Public House’s 100lb burger, and each ticket secured a slice. All of the money raised from the event went to the Good Shepherd Food Bank.
“The business impact has been great,” said Grant. “There has been a ton of support from the community, and the media response has been amazing. I can’t comment specifically about how much the impact has been… but we can see a growing and positive response already.”