New Burger Joint offers over 1.6 Billion possible burger combinations

[guyver01]

http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2010/09/16/the-math-behind-96-million-burger-choices/?hpt=Mid

New Manhattan burger joint 4food lets eaters customize their creations with an extensive ingredient menu,
Here, based on the menu on 4food's website, are the parameters we started with, and our assumptions:

5 buns [breakfast bagel, brioche, multigrain, pressed rice, pumpernickle]: Have to have 1

4 add-ons [lettuce, NY pickle, tomato, onion]: Can have 0-4

12 condiments [mustard, guacamole, bbq, horseradish, hummus, jerk sauce, tartar sauce, mayonnaise, ketchup, salsa verde, sweet chili, tzatziki]: Can have 0-12, should have 0-3

7 cheese [blue, goat, fontina, gruyere, manchego, mozzarella, cheddar]: Can have 0-7, should have 0-2

4 slices [avocado, pancetta, mushroom, sopresatta]: Can have 0-4

17 scoops [avocado & chili mango, baked beans, grits, hominy, fruit & nut, edamame, egg, mac & cheese, mofo, mushroom & onion, peppers, chorizo & potato hash, brussels sprouts, spinach, veggie chili, veggie sushi, winter slaw]: Can have 0-1

8 patties [beef, breakfast pork, egg, lamb, pork, salmon, turkey, veggie]: Can have 1

The first calculated how many choices you'd have if you stuck with "should have" - no more than two cheese slices, three condiments, etc. That gave us this:
5 * (2^4) * (12C3 + 12C2 + 12C1 + 12C0) * (7C2 + 7C1 +7C0) * (2^4) * 18 * 8 = 1,598,238,720

... which is 1.6 billion combos.

 

[bfdd]

We have some place around me that lets you build custom burgers. Heard it's about the same as this so this really isn't that crazy imo. Then again a decent burger joint in New York is probably a big deal.

 

[yhelothar]

And innout is still better than 1.5999999 billion of those combos

 

[QueBert]

WTF I looked at the site, the patty looks like a doughnut and I guess the scoop goes in the middle? I think most of those scoops are fail on a burger, I love Mac & Cheese but it has no place on a burger. What and the shit is "mofo"? This place seems like a huge gimmick. The Counter offers similarly customizable burgers but they don't look like doughnuts and they don't have a bunch of shit offerings like Brussel Sprouts. I'd seriously punch my friends in the face if we were ever out and they ordered a burger with Brussel Sprouts on it. And they limit your toppings/add-ons, that's lame. The Counter you can add as many as you're willing to pay for.

 

[guyver01]

What and the shit is "mofo"?

Apparently... MOFO is short for mofongo.

 

[KaOTiK]

Gotta say it doesn't look all that impressive to me when I went to their website. 1.6 billion ways of fail

 

[Leros]

While eating the edge of the burger, I get a normal burger. When I hit the middle, I get the "scoop". How about just spreading the "scoop" out over the top of a normal burger and providing a uniform burger experience?

 

[coldmeat]

WTF? No bacon? This place fails.

 

[sandorski]

Sounds interesting. I like the Bun choices.

 

[vshah]

WTF? No bacon? This place fails.

holy crap, how can they not have bacon

I was excited and was going to go try it out until your post pointed out this glaring discrepancy. Thank you sir.

 

[RocksteadyDotNet]

WTF? No bacon? This place fails.

Probably owned by jews or muslims.

Stupid fucking desert people and their no pig policy.





OK that's over the top. Take this back two notches.


esquared
Anandtech Adminitrator

 

[tcsenter]

Its funny. One of my math teachers in high school was fond of using this as a problem (how many possible burger combinations could be created from these choices of additions and toppings)?

 

[OCGuy]

WTF? No bacon? This place fails.

Yea, really. The new "hotspot" burger place here in Anaheim Hills is a place where the patties are 50% ground beef, 50% ground bacon. (Name of restaurant is "50/50 burger)

http://www.slaters5050.com/home


Tasty as hell. Oh, plus micro-brews? Love it.

 

[Fayd]

http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/

 

[akshatp]

Anyone else find it extremely difficult to find their frikkin ADDRESS?

 

[IronWing]

Pure hell. Can you imagine being fourth in line behind three high maintenance folks.

"May I take your order?"
"Let's see, what do I want? Hmm, maybe, nah, but the pickles might be good but kind of salty, do you have low salt pickles?"

 

[Schadenfroh]

WTF? No bacon? This place fails.

They have "breakfast pork," so maybe it is a patty made of bacon?

Also, they need the option to add butter.

 

[Regs]

That's a little pretentious. Why not just make a few really good ones? So what if they have 10 that are a really good combination which everybody orders, would they have enough supplies to meet customer demands?

I can't imagine the quality of ingredients to be that good in such quantities.

 

[SP33Demon]

http://www.cheeburger.com/menu/main.asp

Cheeburger Cheeburger is still the best and blows that cheap imitation out of the water.

1) Chee has bacon as a topping.
2) Chee has unfrozen beef.
3) Chee has 378,000 different combinations of milkshakes.
4) Chee has make your own salad with 28 things to put in it.
5) I sound like a stupid commercial but Chee is that awesome.

 

[IceBergSLiM]

pancetta = high class bacon. relax guys they got you covered.

 

[Vonkhan]

place is pretty close to me, will go there for lunch today and report back

 

[Homerboy]

pancetta = high class bacon. relax guys they got you covered.

That's what I was going to post.
Also they need pretzel buns. Every had a pretzel bun? Ohhhhhhhhh baby.

 

[Platypus]

mmm mofongo.

 

[Imported]

http://www.thecounterburger.com/menu/

Was gonna mention this.. it's not new.

 

[Joemonkey]

That's what I was going to post.
Also they need pretzel buns. Every had a pretzel bun? Ohhhhhhhhh baby.

I love soft pretzel buns, a microbrewery/restaurant around here serves a club sandwich on soft pretzel bread, it's awesome