Shake Shack is no stranger to introducing limited edition menu items, but the burger chain’s latest offering may be its craziest creation yet.
Starting February 10, Shake Shack restaurants nationwide will offer a trio of items made using white truffle: a beef burger, a mushroom burger and fries served with white truffle sauce.
The Danny Meyer-founded chain calls its latest specialty menu an attempt to bring an ingredient traditionally found in fine dining restaurants to the general public.
“We thought this was something we could do,” Jay Livingston, Shake Shack’s chief marketing officer, told CNBC Make It. “We are always trying to highlight great taste and truly unique ingredients, including ingredients that you might not find in a fast casual type of environment.”
Shake Shack’s White Truffle Menu
- White Truffle Burger: Fontina Cheeseburger, white truffle sauce, crispy sweet onions on a roasted potato bun (starts at $8.99)
- White Truffle ‘Shroom BurgerCrisp-Fried Portobello Mushrooms Stuffed with Melted Muenster and Cheddar Cheeses, White Truffle Sauce, Chopped Salad on a Toasted Potato Bun (starts at $8.99)
- Parmesan Fries with White Truffle Sauce: Crinkle Cut Fries with a side of Parmesan Cheese and White Truffle Sauce (starts at $4.69)
This isn’t Shake Shack’s first experience with truffles — the restaurant had a limited-edition black truffle menu in late 2021 — but it’s the first time it’s worked with white truffles, which Livingston said is more likely than its black counterparts. It can cost almost four times more than its counterpart.
The company worked with luxury food importer Regalis Foods to incorporate white truffles into its menu without asking customers to break the bank, and also avoid artificial flavors that use cheap truffle oil.
“They found a way to turn it into a sauce with some olive oil that was really natural, but also cost-effective for our price point,” says Livingston.
Shake Shack will offer the menu for about three months, though Livingston said availability will ultimately be dictated by customer demand.
“Last time [we did truffle] It’s been fairly short-lived,” he says. So we never know what the demand will be, but we expect it to be around two-and-a-half to three months.”
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