Smokey Bones’ delivery-only burger brand, The Burger Experience, has revamped its menu with new burgers and a secret umami XTC sauce. The curated menu features five quality burgers and new crinkle cut fries, all at $6.
The five burgers include a Classic, Classic with Cheese, a Bacon Cheeseburger, Mushroom Swiss Burger, and a Green Chile Burger – all served on a grilled brioche bun. Bringing an extra zip to the burgers is the restaurant’s XTC sauce, a combination that includes umami notes of mustard, soy, and hoisin sauce for a savory and complementary taste that harkens back to the days of the original burger joints. The simplified menu allows The Burger Experience to quickly prepare the meal and get it to the curb or out the door for delivery.
“The pandemic has changed the way customers interact with restaurants with guests now increasingly relying on curbside, carryout, delivery, and third-party delivery apps,” said CEO James O’Reilly. “We believe many of these changes are going to be permanent and now is the time for us to innovate and invest. We have the operational and culinary capability to do just that, while focusing on one of American’s most beloved menu items – burgers.”
The Burger Experience operates inside Smokey Bones’ 61 locations across 16 states. Guests can order curbside pick-up or delivery via The Burger Experience website: www.burgerxorder.com, or through Uber Eats and Door Dash.
At a time when food delivery is thriving, the Fla.-based restaurant group revamped its popular burger brand after research found the off-premise burger segment was crowded with high-priced, chef-driven concepts or mainstream fast food options with few, or no options in the middle for a quality burger at a reasonable price.
“We wanted to do something different by offering a really delicious menu of burgers starting at $6 that are designed for off-premise customers only,” said O’Reilly. “The Burger Experience offers the kind of delicious burger you could easily order every week for your lunch, or order in large numbers for a group with drinks and crinkle fries. The brand is fun, relaxed and very focused on one simple thing: great burgers you can enjoy anytime and anywhere.”
The Burger Experience joins The Wing Experience, Smokey Bones’ other delivery-only brand. The Wing Experience menu offers 50 wing flavors and the same crinkle cut fries. Both The Burger Experience and The Wing Experience’s specialized menus allow the brands to focus on making the best burgers and wings in America at competitive prices.
Tasty Chomps Q and A – The Burger Experience
Tasty Chomps: How did the concept come about and what year did it begin?
The Burger Experience was first created in the Fall of 2019 in partnership with UberEats and was offered in about a dozen locations. It was expanded to all 61 locations in the Spring of 2020 along with The Wing Experience. After both virtual brands were expanded, both were also re-concepted. The Wing Experience was re-concepted for chicken wing flavor – seekers, with the tagline ‘Jumbo Wings Fifty Flavors’. The response to the reconcepting of The Wing Experience was so positive that The Burger Experience was reconcepted to ‘Chef Driven Delivery Burgers starting at $6’. Everything in the reconcept was changed, from the bun, toppings, patties, and the introduction of the new ‘XTC Experience’ burger sauce. The Burger Experience now offers five incredible delivery burgers starting at $6 and early market response has been very strong.
– What are some of the most popular burgers right now on the menu?
The Burger Experience offers 5 prebuilt delivery burgers:
1) Classic with XTC Experience ,
2) Classic with Cheese & XTC Experience ,
3) Bacon Cheeseburger with garlic mayo and carmelized grilled onions,
4) Mushroom Swiss Burger with horshradish mayo, sauteed sliced mushrooms and swiss cheese, and
5) Green Chile Burger with hatch green chiles and pepperjack cheese.
The Burger Experience also offers a create your own option .
With only 5 pre-built burgers, all are popular!
– What are some new things coming to Burger Experience?
The Burger Experience will soon be offering new sides and an incredible new veggie burger
Question and Answers with Smokey Bones’ CEO James O’Reilly
– Tell us about your background / history in the food industry
James entered the food industry from marketing giant Procter & Gamble in 1997 on the KFC brand in Canada as its Director of Marketing. James spent thirteen years at YUM Brands working on KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, across Canada, the United Kingdom, the Caribbean, and Latin America. He went on to become the US Chief Marketing Officer for KFC , Einstein Bros Bagels, and Sonic Drive In. James was appointed President and CEO of Long John Silver’s in 2014, and became President and CEO of Smokey Bones in 2019.
– What are some important lessons learned in 2020 as you navigated through the pandemic?
The most important lesson of navigating 2020 was to remain a values-centered organization. As the crisis severely impacted the company and its employees, Smokey Bones leadership engaged its front line employees directly and frequently on live video communicating business updates, focusing on values, and answering tough questions. Smokey Bones restaurant leaders responded in legendary fashion, propelling the company to a steady recovery from the pandemic which is still underway. Through this experience Smokey Bones galvanized its values system in its ‘Humanifesto’ and five core values: 1) Be Yourself, 2) Be Resilient, 3) Be Creative, Act with Integrity, and 5) Drive for Results
– What are your upcoming plans in the coming months for both Smokey Bones and Burger Experience / Wing Experience as the economy begins recovering and more people become vaccinated?
Smokey Bones and its virtual brands have aggressive growth plans including traditional and ghost kitchen development, menu innovation, and new marketing approaches.
– What do you want guests to know about both Smokey Bones when they come to dine?
Smokey Bones are the ‘Masters of Meat’ because of its depth of meat choices and preparation methods. Only Smokey Bones can offer house-smoked award winning bbq, fire grilled steaks, burgers, and seafood, baby back and St Louis ribs, and its world famous smoked wings available in fifteen flavors. For a limited time Smokey Bones is offering a ‘Global Rib Feast’ featuring five global rib flavors (Japanese Teriyaki, Chinese BBQ, Korean BBQ, Mango Tandoori, and Caribbean Jerk). Smokey Bones is ‘Meat Heaven’ for meat lovers.
– What is the most surprising thing about Burger Experience that you discovered ?
The most surprising thing about The Burger Experience is how fast its sales have improved since reconcepting it from traditional $15 casual dining burgers to chef driven delivery burgers starting at $6. Smokey Bones broke the mold in its reconcepting efforts on its virtual brand and are experience a very strong consumer response.
– How will you continue to innovate as food trends and popular culture evolve?
Culinary efforts are led by Chef Peter Farrand, and amazing chef with decades of culinary experience. Chef Peter is an expert in culinary trends, and continues to evolve the menus on Smokey Bones and its virtual brands.
