The archive · Small Business & Money · Strategic decision · 2001–2004
Shake Shack's 2001 park hot dog cart — art fundraiser that became a burger chain
Danny Meyer's park-fundraiser hot dog cart (2001) became the 2004 Shake Shack kiosk — by 2015, a public burger chain.
Shake Shack (Union Square Hospitality Group)
What it had to solve
In 2001 Madison Square Park had just been rebuilt after years of neglect, and the Madison Square Park Conservancy wanted its first public-art project to bring New Yorkers back. Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group ran the park's food service, and his fine-dining kitchen, Eleven Madison Park, sat idle at lunchtime.
How it works
In 2001 Madison Square Park in Manhattan was freshly rebuilt after years of neglect, and the Madison Square Park Conservancy wanted its first public-art project to bring people back. Thai artist Navin Rawanchaikul's 'I ♥ Taxi' — taxi statues on stilts, murals, tents and food stands — filled the park, and restaurateur Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group saw a chance to help: a hot dog cart.
Meyer and Randy Garutti, then running fine-dining Eleven Madison Park across the street, steamed hot dogs in EMP's kitchen every summer morning and walked them out to the cart. They ran it for the summers of 2001, 2002 and 2003, gave all proceeds to the park, and used it to keep their best staff employed through the slow months. Within days the cart was drawing lines of 50 to 100 people.
In 2004 the city offered the pair a 400-square-foot kiosk. They named it Shake Shack, added burgers and frozen custard, and the ShackBurger became a legend. What began as a park fundraiser became a public company in 2015 — and during the recession years, Shake Shack's profits were what kept Eleven Madison Park itself alive.
Why it lands
- The cart solved three problems at once: it funded the art show, drew New Yorkers into the park, and gave Meyer's staff summer work.
- Scarcity and quality did the marketing: a small cart with genuinely good hot dogs created a line, and the line became the story the press repeated.
- They let the venue grow the business: the city's offer of a kiosk came from demonstrated demand, not from a franchise plan.
- The brand kept the origin visible: the kiosk stayed a park shack, and the 'fundraiser that became a chain' story stayed on the menu.
What it did
The cart brought the park back to life, the 2004 kiosk grew to 46 locations worldwide by 2014 and roughly 70 by mid-2015, when Shake Shack went public at $21 a share. The New York Times dubbed it 'the anti-chain-chain,' and in the recession years Shake Shack's profits were what kept Eleven Madison Park itself afloat.
What you can take
A tiny, well-run operation is cheap marketing: give people something good to line up for, give the proceeds to a cause, and let the crowd hand you the next step.
Since then
Shake Shack went public in 2015 with the IPO valued at $21 per share, had grown to roughly 70 locations worldwide by July of that year, and said it planned to stop at 450. The Madison Square Park original still anchors the brand, and the company's 'Stand for Something Good' mission traces back to the cart's purpose of raising money for the park. The cart also changed Meyer's own company: Shake Shack's early profits carried Eleven Madison Park through the 2008–09 downturn before the two businesses were formally separated.
Sources
- Why Shake Shack and Eleven Madison Park Only Exist Because of Each Other
- Shake Shack's rise from burger stand to billions
- Here's the Scrap of Paper That Launched the Billion Dollar Shake Shack Empire
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