As the founder of Shake Shack, Danny Meyer has seen his “modern day roadside burger stand” become a globally recognized brand over the past decade.
But as the company prepares to open a restaurant in West Hartford Friday, its 172nd location, Meyer still remembers the eatery’s New Britain Avenue space from his college years — as the Sears automotive center, where he’d bring his dilapidated vehicles in for new tires after long trips from Missouri to Connecticut.
“I got the family’s leftover cars, the ones that were just about to break down,” says the St. Louis-raised restaurateur, who earned a political science degree from Trinity College in 1980.
The former Sears Auto Center in the town’s Corbin’s Corner retail district is now home to new development, including Hartford County’s first Shake Shack, which opens April 27 at 11 a.m. The restaurant chain’s “fine casual” concept features burgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, fries and frozen custard treats, along with beer and wine.
This is the fourth Shake Shack to open in Connecticut, joining other locations in Darien, New Haven and Westport (which opened in July 2011 as Shake Shack’s first foray into the Nutmeg State and the chain’s first suburban restaurant).
“[Westport] was fascinating for us, because believe it or not, that was the first Shack we ever opened that you needed to drive a car to,” Meyer recalls. “We had no experience with parking lots.” The location remains one of Shake Shack’s most successful restaurants, he says.
A year later, Shake Shack debuted in New Haven, with a prominent space on Chapel Street near the New Haven Green.
“I had a daughter at Yale, and that provided a really good excuse to see her even more frequently,” Meyer says. The Darien location followed in January 2017, and saw early success thanks to customers’ familiarity with the brand.
With his ties to Connecticut, Meyer remains familiar with the state’s dining scene, naming favorite New Haven-area pizzerias and standouts in Hartford.
“I’m in love with Zuppardi’s clam pizza. I also love Modern [Apizza],” he says. “I like First & Last in Hartford; I think it’s very good. I think Bear’s does a great job with barbecue in Hartford. All the Max restaurants for sure … I have a lot to learn about West Hartford, actually, from a dining standpoint.”
The West Hartford opening is a homecoming of sorts for Meyer, the CEO of Union Square Hospitality Group, which comprises top New York restaurants like Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern and The Modern. He’s involved with his alma mater as a member of the board of trustees and parent of a current Trinity sophomore, and credits his study-abroad experience at the college’s Rome campus for his love of the city and its food, wine, culture and language.
“I went to the Rome campus, ostensibly to study international politics,” Meyer says. “But I really spent my time going to trattorias … I think if you look at many of our fine dining restaurants — Union Square Cafe, Maialino, Marta, even Gramercy Tavern — there’s definitely an imprint of the time that I spent in Rome thanks to Trinity College.”
Meyer’s political science studies led him to an internship in the Connecticut state legislature. “Hartford has never been an uncomplicated city, and I learned a lot about placemaking and neighborhood development,” he says.
That experience would later help shape the genesis of Shake Shack, which began in 2004 as a hot dog stand to help generate income and activity in New York’s Madison Square Park. As the original location earned a cult following, the brand expanded throughout New York City and now enjoys a presence in 21 states and Washington, D.C. Internationally, Shake Shacks are in Bahrain, Japan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
“I think the very first Shake Shack is an example of … to see how a business in a public park could actually create community wealth,” Meyer says. “People forget pretty quickly that Madison Square Park, which is now such a bastion of life and activity and commercial and residential real estate success, was nothing like that back when we were first establishing food in the park.”
Meyer has been described as a disruptor in the culinary industry, taking innovative and unconventional approaches to fine dining. He made headlines in 2015 when he announced that his restaurants would move to a “hospitality included” model, eliminating tipping in an effort to “compensate our employees more equitably, competitively and professionally,” according to the USHG restaurant group website.
Nearly three years later, the model “has succeeded, not without challenge, that’s for sure,” Meyer says. The restaurants experienced a high employee turnover rate when the system was first implemented, but now, “we’re attracting a different kind of restaurant professional, someone who says, ‘I would have been just as nice to you even without expectation of further compensation.’ It’s working really, really well. … It’s certainly not for every restaurant company and certainly not for every restaurant employee, but it works for us.”
Shake Shack opens April 27 at 1445 New Britain Ave. in West Hartford. shakeshack.com.
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