Shake Shack Is Tapping Into an Ultra-Luxury Ingredient

The burger chain's new white truffle menu mirrors a successful test run from 2021.

While luxury ingredients like truffles and wagyu beef can cost thousands per pound due to their rarity, fast-food chains are known to use small amounts to market a "luxury experience" to their customers.

Last year, sandwich chain Arby's released the Wagyu Steakhouse Burger that cost $5.99 and was "52% wagyu and 48% sirloin" with a pink center. Iconic New York burger chain Shake Shake  (SHAK) - Get Free Report had its 2021 Black Truffle Menu with a burger and fries topped with truffle oil from luxury food importer Regalis Foods.

At the time, the chain positioned it as a way to democratize truffles and let everyday customers try the taste (even a drop of truffle oil can imbue a dish with a very strong truffle flavor) -- "no white tablecloth required."

"We're charging $8.99 for that, for the Black Truffle Burger in our core urban markets, and we're really learning a lot about our ability to kind of pass on a really premium, elevated product to our guests," Shake Shack chief executive Randy Garutti told investors of the menu item.

Shake Shack Drops Another Truffle-Forward Menu

The experiment was well-received (the burgers were featured on "Good Morning America" and caught the attention of multiple food critics), and just a little over a year later, Shake Shack is once again launching a truffle menu with an even more exclusive flavor.

White truffles are known for their more delicate taste and, since they're less common in nature than their black counterparts, may cost as much as $5,000 per pound. Having a piece of shaved white truffle on a burger is in no way feasible at the fast food level but, as of Feb. 10, Shake Shack will feature some more sandwiches and fries with an oil made from it. 

The White Truffle Burger will cost $8.99 and feature a beef patty topped with fontina cheese, sweet onions and Regalis' new white truffle oil on a potato bun. The White Truffle 'Shroom Burger is a vegetarian version with a portobello mushroom and cheese patty while the Parmesan Fries with White Truffle Sauce give one a side with that white truffle oil flavor for $4.69.

"Generally, you can only find real white truffles at fine dining restaurants, but now we’re bringing the fine dining experience to your local Shack -- reservations not required," Shake Shack wrote in a blog post announcing the new menu.

Can Fast Food Really Delve Into Luxury?

As with last time, the white truffle menu is a limited-time promotion that will run a few months or until "supplies last."

Over the last decade, fast food menus with luxury ingredients were more common in Asia  -- when Wendy's  (WEN) - Get Free Report re-entered the Japanese market in 2011, it placed a $16 foie-gras-and-truffle burger on the menu. Restaurant Brands International  (QSR) - Get Free Report's Burger King also at different times had several different truffle burgers in Hong Kong.

In the U.S., such chain menu items are rarer but do pop up from time to time as a double-whammy -- for some, it may be the first time to try certain luxury ingredients while those with refined palates are often curious to see if the taste can really be recreated at the mass level.

"In the face of escalating food and labor costs, more foodservice operators have recalibrated their promotion strategies: focusing on premium items that command higher menu prices and profit margins," food industry analyst Nancy Kruse wrote for Nation's Restaurant News.

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