The Burger Index: Notes on Methodology

Why burgers? (A Dispatch Plus Extra)

The Burger Index includes the old school cheeseburger basket from Melvin's BBQ
The Burger Index includes the old school cheeseburger basket from Melvin's BBQ (Jonathan Boncek)

By Robert F. Moss

This week we published the Southeastern Dispatch’s exclusive Burger Index, which charts pricing trends in restaurant burgers over the past six years, along with some commentary on the mechanics of pricing from Brooks Reitz of Little Jack’s Tavern.

But why select burgers for the index in the first place? We certainly could have chosen any number of other food items for the indicator, like tacos or bahn mi sandwiches. Like burgers, both of these spark righteous indignation among a certain segment of the dining public when priced at a premium level. (“$4.95 for a taco? Are you kidding me?”)

But a burger seems a better core indicator because, for starters, just about every restaurant in the city sells one these days. Classically-trained chefs once sneered at the lowly stacks of beef and bun, which were relegated to fast food joints or casual diners. Not anymore.

Sesame Burgers & Beer lets you build your own burgers with an array of toppings and housemade condiments
Sesame Burgers & Beer lets you build your own burgers with an array of toppings and housemade condiments (Robert F. Moss)

Burgers have become a menu essential at restaurants high and low, especially on bar and brunch menus (slide a fried egg on top and—voila!—a breakfast dish!) You can find them at barbecue joints, at Mexican restaurants, at the flashiest high-end steakhouse—a universal menu item if there ever was one.

Plus, a cheeseburger is a straight-forward preparation that, despite the creative energy that chefs pour into their custom grinds and housemade condiments, don’t vary all that much from one restaurant to the next. (We’re excluding, of course, absurd acts of conspicuous consumption like piling poached lobster or shaved truffles on top.)

So burgers it is.

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About the Author

Robert F. Moss

Robert F. Moss is the Contributing Barbecue Editor for Southern Living magazine, Restaurant Critic for the Post & Courier, and the author of numerous books on Southern food and drink, including The Lost Southern Chefs, Barbecue: The History of an American Institution, Southern Spirits: 400 Years of Drinking in the American South, and Barbecue Lovers: The Carolinas. He lives in Charleston, South Carolina.

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