Shake Shack: A Madison Square Park Hot Dog Cart, a PPP Loan and the IPO

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Shake Shack began in 2001 as a hot dog cart supporting the I Heart Taxi art exhibit in a run-down Madison Square Park, set up by Randy Garutti, director of operations for Danny Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group, and prepped in the kitchen of Eleven Madison Park. After three summers, Meyer won a city bid in 2004 for a permanent kiosk serving burgers, fries and frozen custard shakes. That one kiosk eventually averaged $4 million a year, roughly double a typical U.S. McDonald's. Expansion around 2010 went to places such as Lincoln Road in Miami Beach and a rundown Upper East Side block, and international stores opened in Dubai and Kuwait in 2011.

The 2015 IPO priced shares at $21; they jumped 123 percent on the first day to $47 and later hit $90, and the company set a goal of 450 stores. Culinary director Mark Rosati ran scarcity launches, testing the Chicken Shack only in Brooklyn in 2015 and selling tickets a week ahead for a 2018 burger collaboration with Brooklyn restaurant Emily. In 2020 Shake Shack received a $10 million Paycheck Protection Program loan through a per-location rule, and Garutti returned it. Union Square Hospitality Group kept between $11 million and $27 million, though Meyer had said on a podcast that it would be irresponsible for large, well-funded companies to take PPP money.

• A location in Sandy, Utah, was built inside a 90-year-old historic school building.
• A store in Israel, announced before October 7, 2023, opened in February 2024 and drew boycotts during the Gaza war.
• Shake Shack adopted the Better Chicken Commitment in 2016, and in 2025 reported zero percent compliance on its genetic and slaughter requirements.
• In June 2020 NYPD unions claimed officers' milkshakes had been poisoned with bleach; police found no criminality, and the cause was likely residual cleaning solution in the machine.
• Expansion has reached Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand, with Brazil and Hawaii targeted by 2027.