Business students design burgers and compete in Tom & Eddie’s Burger Challenge
November 13, 2014
The Naperville Central business department earned $265 in a four-hour period, simply by flipping burgers.
While no students actually cooked, Intro to Business students created their own burgers: The Krafstman Burger, Italian Stallion and Pollo Loco. These sandwiches were initially offered at the Naper Boulevard Tom & Eddie’s location from 5-9 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 11. However, because the Krafstman Burger sold best – at 105 burgers – it will be available until Nov. 25.
“We started the Burger Challenge when we were approached by one of the teachers from Stevenson [High School],” said Rich Ward, Tom & Eddie’s operations manager. “We came up with this concept and it worked very well, so we reached out to high schools around all of our restaurants.”
That was four semesters ago, according to Business Education teacher Nikole Epstein.
“Each of the Intro to Business [classes] get to create a burger,” Epstein said. “It’s about a month of prep time. So they build the burger, then we come in for a taste test, make any changes, tweak the burger, then we advertise for it.”
Freshmen Rishika Singh and Adam Deutsch and junior Tyler Rice were among the students who helped create the burgers. Rice’s class created the Pollo Loco, which is a chicken sandwich with chipotle sauce, crispy onion stacks, guacamole and pico de gallo, Deutsch helped make the Krafstman Burger, that includes mac and cheese, bacon and haystack onions, and Singh’s class made the Italian Stallion, which has mozzarella, marinara sauce and pesto.
According to Deutsch, the classes were split into smaller groups that made their own burger, then the whole class voted on the one that would be sold.
“Every semester is different, [but Business Education Teacher Christine] Bell’s class went against the regular burger idea and made a chicken sandwich,” Epstein said. “Another interesting thing was the mac and cheese [on the Krafstman Burger]. And I thought the Italian Stallion was a great concept burger.”
Of the total burger sales, 10 percent came back to Central, and the funds are usually kept in the business department to be used for various expenses, such as field trips and awards.
This semester, Central’s Burger Challenge sold 239 burgers.
