Prices for burgers are on the rise as upstart chains and long-time fast food monoliths race to capitalize on the upscale burger craze.

But are things getting out of hand?

Burger Business interviewed Zach Conine, the VP of development for LEV Restaurant Group, and asked him about the menu at its i♥burgers concept location on the Las Vegas strip.

One of the classic burgers on the menu — the i♥bacon, which has "a blend of sirloin and applewood-smoked bacon, crispy bacon, bacon mayo, gouda, onion strings" — is a whopping $17.

Here's his rationale. From the interview at Burger Business:

"One of the things that’s really great about burgers is that it’s truly an American classic. That standard burger with American cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, a little bit of ketchup, a little bit of mustard on a great bun? That’s just as American as it gets.

" ... But we also think the burger can be insane. It can be shredded filet mignon. We have the i♥bacon burger that is 70% top flap brisket and 30% applewood-smoked bacon. That’s just a higher level of ingredient. If you’re making a burger with truffles or an organic poached egg or Asian slaw, the burger no longer is an “I can make this myself at home” experience. I love burgers is trying to provide both those experiences: That classic burger and the gourmet burger."

But there's more to it than just ingredients. Since the place is on the Vegas strip, rent prices are ultra-high. Another important point Conine makes is that the menu at i♥burgers is still cheaper than most of the other dining options around there.

As long as people are willing to pay for it — and it appears they are, at least on the strip — then that premium pricing is going to work.

Would you cough up $17 for a bacon cheeseburger anywhere outside of the Vegas strip? Sound off below.

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Chops & Hops, a steakhouse in Watkinsville, Georgia, is getting slammed by customers after it screwed up on its Facebook page, reports Christopher Seward at the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

It promoted a celebrity-inspired sandwich called the "Caribbean Black and Bleu," referencing the Chris Brown-Rihanna domestic violence incident.

That didn't go over too well with customers. Sometimes, it's just not worth it to try to be funny.

Here's what Chops & Hops posted on Facebook, along with a small sample of the subsequent backlash from outraged locals:

There was plenty more where that came from, on both Facebook and Twitter. 

Under siege, Chops & Hops posted an apology a day later, clarifying its position: "The owners of C&H would like to make sure everyone knows that we and our staff DO NOT SUPPORT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE. Many of us have been affected by domestic violence in some manner and realize that this is no joke."

It also says it's going to donate proceeds to Project Safe Team 6.

There was no malicious intent by the restaurant and this will all blow over in a few days. After all, it was just a joke gone wrong and people are quick to forgive things like that.

Still, it's a lesson for businesses. This steakhouse created a PR disaster for itself out of nothing and lost some customers over it in a simple attempt to funny on Facebook. As powerful as social media is for small businesses, a misstep can blow things up faster than ever.

NOW SEE: 13 Epic Twitter Fails By Big Brands >

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SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (AP) — Governors of three states got up close with "pink slime" Thursday, touching and examining treated beef at a plant and eating hamburgers made with it in a bid to persuade grossed-out consumers and grocery stores the product is safe to consume.

The three governors and two lieutenant governors spent about a half hour learning about the process of creating finely-textured lean beef in a tour of the main plant that makes the product, then blasted the media for scaring consumers with a moniker coined by critics.

"If you called it finely textured lean beef, would we be here?" asked Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback. Several other leaders echoed his comments as they tried to smooth over consumer concerns about the product.

Beef Products, the main producer of the cheap lean beef made from fatty bits of meat left over from other cuts, has drawn scrutiny over concerns about the ammonium hydroxide it treats meat with to change the beef's acidity and kill bacteria. The company suspended operations at plants in Texas, Kansas and Iowa this week, affecting 650 jobs, but defends its product as safe.

The politicians who toured the plant — Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Brownback, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad, Nebraska Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy and South Dakota Lt. Gov. Matt Michels— all agree with the industry view that the beef has been unfairly maligned and mislabeled and issued a joint statement earlier saying the product is safe.

"Why are we here today defending a company that has a rather sterling record dealing with making a food product that is very much needed in this country in a very safe manner? Why are we here today?" Perry said.

The officials spent about 20 minutes going over the production process in a separate room at the plant with Craig Letch, the company's director of quality assurance, viewing and handling more than a dozen slabs of raw meat and the processed, finished product laid out on cutting boards on a round wooden table.

The officials asked about the added ammonia, which Letch said is used as an extra safety precaution against E. Coli.

"What we're doing with ammonium hydroxide is directly targeting those specific microorganisms that could affect human health. It is nothing more than something to ensure consumer safety," Letch said as the politicians bent over the raw cuts of beef.

The officials donned hard hats, hair nets and goggles for a brief walking tour through the facility. Workers manned conveyor belts of meat cuts that ran from one side of the room to the other in the chilled room; the ammonium hydroxide treatment process was not visible; plant officials say that's because it binds with moisture in the meat in an aerated process.

Afterward, Perry, Branstad and others ate burgers made from the plant's meat at a news conference.

"It's lean. It's good. It's nutritious," Branstad said as he polished off a patty, sans bun.

Larry Smith, with the Institute for Crisis Management public relations firm, said he's not sure the makers of the product — including Cargill and BPI — will be able to overcome the public stigma against their product at this point.

"I can't think of a single solitary message that a manufacturer could use that would resonate with anybody right now," Smith said.

Russell Cross, a former administrator of the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service, said the product is getting a bad rap from a food safety standpoint.

"I'm not saying it's perfectly safe. Nothing is perfectly safe. All food is going to have bacteria in it. But this product has never been in question for safety," he said.

Cross said that ammonia is just one tool designed to reduce bacteria and help make the food safer. The process Cargill uses, by comparison, uses citric acid to achieve similar results.

The finished product contains only a trace of ammonia, as do many other foods, and it's meant just to be an additional "hurdle for the pathogens," said Cross, who is now head of the Department of Animal Science at Texas A&M University.

The ammonium hydroxide BPI uses is also used in baked goods, puddings and other processed foods.

National Meat Association spokesman Jeremy Russell said if consumers insist on eliminating the product from ground beef, prices will go up and lean beef trimmings will have to be imported to replace it. The process of creating lean, finely textured beef yields about 12 to 15 pounds of additional meat per animal.

Russell said the outcry has already hurt BPI and other meat companies, and could eventually hurt the price that ranchers and feedlots receive for cattle.

BPI did get some good news Wednesday when Iowa-based grocer Hy-Vee said it would offer beef with and without pink slime because some consumers demanded the option. But larger grocery store chains, such as Kroger, have stuck with their decisions to stop offering beef with pink slime.

The real test may come later this year when school districts purchase meat from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for next school year. The USDA said earlier this month that it would give school districts a choice between 95 percent lean beef that contains pink slime and less-lean beef without it.

Russell said school districts will have to decide whether they're willing to spend roughly 16 percent more for beef without pink slime.

The USDA this year is contracted to buy 111.5 million pounds of ground beef for the National School Lunch Program. About 7 million pounds of that is from BPI.

___

Associated Press Business Writer Josh Funk in Omaha, Neb., Associated Press writers Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis and Mike Glover in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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People who eat fast food and commercial baked goods are 51 percent more likely to develop depression compared to those who eat little or none, according to a new long-term study, reported by EurekaAlert!.

Consumption of fast food (like hamburgers and pizza) as well as baked goods (like doughnuts and croissants) was linked to participants reporting a physician diagnosis of depression or the use of antidepressant medication.

Furthermore, the researchers also found that "the more fast food you consume, the greater the risk of depression," lead author Almudena Sánchez-Villegas said in a press release.  

The study, published in the journal Public Health Nutrition, consisted of 8,964 participants that had never been diagnosed with depression or taken antidepressants.

They were assessed for an average of six months, and 493 were diagnosed with depression or started to take antidepressants.

Little is known about the role that diet plays in developing depressive disorders, but previous studies suggest that certain nutrients such as group B vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and olive oil have a preventative role.

Sánchez-Villegas concluded that "although more studies are necessary, the intake of this type of food should be controlled because of its implications on both health (obesity, cardiovascular diseases) and mental well-being."

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MIAMI (AP) — When Burger King set about to fix its ailing empire, the fast food giant started by scrutinizing everything on the menu — even the mayonnaise.

A group of Burger King executives and franchisees last year sat through a lengthy presentation complete with charts and graphs on how oils and eggs affect the quality of the spread. A blind taste test of 30 varieties followed. The verdict: They liked the one Burger King was already using.

"That was actually a pretty hard day," recalls John Koch, Burger King's executive chef.

It wasn't the only one. Over the past year, Burger King evaluated all of its ingredients from the bacon to the cheese slices it serves on its char-grilled burgers as part of a year-long quest to reverse years of slumping sales of its Whoppers and fries. The result: On Monday, it plans to launch a lineup of smoothies, frappe coffees, chicken strips and snack wraps. The 10 new items mark Burger King's biggest menu expansion since the chain opened its doors in 1954.

Burger King's food odyssey shows how grueling it can be for a fast-food company to come up with new menu items — a process most Americans aren't aware of when they're handed a bag at a drive-thru window. Burger King is the latest chain to revamp its menu as part of the fast-food industry's move away from its nearly single-minded courtship of young men. Once the lifeblood of the industry, the economic downturn hit those junk food fanatics particularly hard. At the same time, Americans generally have been demanding healthier options.

Burger King has failed to evolve even as competitors have gone after new customers with breakfast items and healthier fare. Last year, Wendy's for the first time edged out Burger King as the nation's No. 2 burger chain behind McDonald's. To stem the decline, Burger King executives last year decided to remodel its aging system of 7,200 stores to make them more contemporary, redesign worker uniforms with aprons so they stay clean and even serve the iconic Whopper in cardboard cartons instead of paper burger wrapping for the first time in more than 20 years. The food, however, is at the heart of its plan.

Consumers have longed for more food options at Burger King, but the revamp is a gamble. The new menu may not go far enough to differentiate Burger King from its competitors.

After all, there are striking similarities between Burger King's new items and the offerings of its much-bigger rival McDonald's. The Golden Arches already rolled out specialty salads in 2003, snack wraps in 2006, premium coffee drinks in 2009, and fruit smoothies in 2010.

"Being an innovator is critical in the fast-food industry," said Darren Tristano, an analyst for food industry researcher Technomic Inc. But in recent years, he said Burger King has been more of a follower.

Burger King executives don't deny that its new items are pretty close to those on McDonald's popular menu. But they say the new menu was created as a result of Burger King's own research.

"Consumers wanted more choices," said Steve Wiborg, president of Burger King's North America operations. "Not just healthy choices, but choices they could get at the competition."

THE RAMP UP

The fast-food industry has undergone a shift in recent years. Just five years ago, the top three fast-food companies were all burger chains. But concerns over obesity have paved the way for competitors like Subway, now the second-biggest chain, and Starbucks, which climbed up the rankings to the No. 3 spot. Smaller players such as Five Guys, which sells made-to-order burgers, are gaining ground too.

McDonald's quickly adapted. The world's biggest burger chain reinvented itself as a hip, healthier place to eat by offering wireless Internet and rolling out a string of hit menu items such as fruit smoothies, iced coffees and oatmeal.

Burger King failed to keep up. Its share of sales among burger chains fell from 17 percent a decade ago to 12 percent last year, according to researcher Technomic. McDonald's share rose from 42 percent to 50 percent.

All Tom McDonald had to do was look at Burger King's competitors to see why sales at the chain were falling. A Burger King franchisee since 1989, McDonald said the chain's menu hadn't changed much over the years.

"We were getting behind with the wraps and salads that were coming on the market," said McDonald, who owns 19 franchises. "We had salads, but they weren't as good as the competition. We focused on burgers maybe longer than we should have."

McDonald said he expressed his concerns at the company's failure to keep up with the times. But the Miami-based chain had gone through a series of owners over the years, and McDonald said he got little response from corporate about addressing the problems.

He said the attitude from the top changed, however, after New York-based private equity firm 3G Capital bought Burger King last year. That's when Burger King assembled a group of 15 key executives, franchisees and suppliers to evaluate the chain's menu, item by item.

The process, which took three months of day-long meetings, was grueling at times. French fries took multiple days, given the various factors like seasoning, oil and frying method. Even the day for soft-serve ice cream, which was rolled out last summer, wasn't as fun as it might sound: A supplier that had 400 vanilla flavors presented the nuances between Madagascar and honey vanilla.

"Trying to come up with the exact intensity of vanilla you need is a little bit daunting," said Koch, Burger King's chef.

Burger King quietly put some changes in place over the past year. The French fries are thicker so they'll stay hot longer. Burgers now come with one slice of cheese instead of two, so it melts more evenly. And naturally-smoked bacon is now cooked at each restaurant. Previously, Burger King had used a pre-cooked variety with a smoked flavor sprayed on.

THE ROLLOUT

Once executives settled on menu items, it was time to go to the masses. Would the new items measure up to those of Burger King's competitors? To find out, the company conducted consumer tests and revised its recipes over months.

Burger King considered making Panini-pressed snack wraps, for example, but tests showed customers wanted something lighter. The wraps it settled on closely resemble the ones offered at McDonald's — a chicken strip sprinkled with cheese, lettuce and dressing wrapped in a flour tortilla. McDonald's even offers the same flavors — honey mustard and ranch.

Even seemingly straightforward items had to be reworked over and over. The new "Homestyle Chicken Strips" went through 11 variations before the final version was selected. And it took about seven months and six tries before the company found the right mix of creaminess, iciness and tanginess for its strawberry banana and tropical mango smoothies.

"They didn't rush these products out to market," said McDonald, the Burger King franchisee who regularly eats at competitors to stay on top of what they're doing. He said he's confident the new menu items stack up to rivals. "They got feedback from consumers and reformulated them to get it right."

But food isn't Burger King's only problem. Many of its restaurants are showing signs of aging. So the company decided it wanted to give them a more modern look that mixes leather armchairs, high stools and plastic chairs in warmer lighting. High partitions will create more privacy in some seating areas. The makeover costs an average of more than $275,000 per restaurant.

That presents another challenge: getting buy-in from franchisees, who own 90 percent of the chain's U.S. stores. So the company is offering incentives to those who sign up for the remodeling, such as a 50 percent discount on the annual $50,000 franchise fee.

So far, more than 1,000 franchise locations are slated to be updated in the next year. Over the next three years, 2,500 will be remodeled.

Customers will see changes even in stores that aren't remodeled. The drab red, black or blue shirts workers used to wear have been replaced by metal gray shirts and aprons that were designed with the help of employees. Wrappers, cups and bags now have vivid photos of food that were shot by the same photographer responsible for the catalogs of the high-end housewares retailer Williams-Sonoma.

To get the word out about the changes, Burger King is rolling out its biggest marketing campaign ever. TV ads will feature celebrities, including soccer player David Beckham, comedian Jay Leno and actress Salma Hayek. In one spot, R&B singer Mary J. Blige croons the ingredients of the snack wraps.

Whether the star power of the ads, updated stores and the new food on the menu can fix Burger King's troubles remains to be seen. But Alex Macedo, chief marketing officer for Burger King North America, said the chain has a good chance of rebounding because Burger King is a brand everyone knows.

"People love Burger King and really want a reason to come back," he said.

___

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In Europe, McDonald's is executing a crowdsourcing project brilliantly.

They're called "My Burger" contests, which allow regular people to design their own McDonald's sandwich with the hopes of one day seeing it on the menu.

Click here to see the burgers >

They serve three major purposes:

Consumer engagement — Contests like these are perfect for getting people involved with a brand. Not only do they get to do something fun involving McDonald's, but they get to see their ideas showcased on a website and potentially earn a big-time payoff by seeing their sandwich in a McDonald's one day.

Builds hype — It gets the word out for the brand in a social way that can't be replicated by simple print or television ads. The interaction factor inherently makes the contest social — people want to show their friends their awesome ideas.

Product development — McDonald's may get a true winner out of these contests. Its R&D department is constantly churning out more ideas, and they could always use help. The McRibster, for instance, won Austria's "Mein Burger" competition and ended up generating a ton of buzz for McDonald's.

And better yet, some of the key risks involved with crowdsourcing contests are mitigated in McDonald's case. For instance, it doesn't run a risk of angering those that would've gotten the business. Professional designers have grown to hate it when companies try to get work done for free instead of going to them.

Take notebook maker Moleskine, who had to go on damage control when its contest backfired as designers called for a boycott. There aren't many professional burger design consultants out there that will be mad at McDonald's for having a contest.

So, what have the amateur burger designers come up with this year?

Spain and Germany have announced five finalists each for their 2012 contests. Do you think any of them will be a hit?

McPanther — beef patty with ketchup, lettuce, onion, tomato, bacon and melted mozzarella on a cheese hard roll

Crockstahzumjot — crispy chicken patty and black forest ham with sour cream sauce, ketchup, lettuce, tomato and cheddar cheese on a ciabatta roll

Laughinator — beef patty and ham with sour cream sauce, onions, lettuce, cheddar cheese and hard cheese on a pretzel roll

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Burger King is changing everything, and it's about time that it does. Wendy's surpassed it at the end of last year, and it has been completely left in the dust by arch rival McDonald's.

Bill Ackman's wittily titled presentation, "Justice is a dish best served flame broiled" outlines the rebranding process Burger King is counting on to turn things around.

The main goal is to make the brand more appealing to a wider demographic.

Previously, Burger King put all its energy into targeting 18-35 year old males, but they only represent only 17% of the fast food market.

Menu — New salads, wraps and smoothies were developed to attract more females. Meanwhile, it's revamping its core items, like fries and soft-serve. Fries are a major concern for Burger King because it's the second biggest "brand attribute gap" between it and McDonald's.

Marketing — Burger King's old marketing tried to attract young males with humor and its King mascot. Now, it's going for a broader audience with a food-focused message.

Image — It's reimaging 40% of the chain's U.S. stores in the next three years to match its shift in marketing. That's the fastest reimaging of any major chain in the country.

Operations — Behind the scenes, Burger King is restructuring its U.S. teams and increasing its mid-level management so that operations can work more closely with restaurants.

NOW SEE: These Burger Design Contests From McDonald's Are Brilliant Marketing Stunts >

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The StrasBurger has arrived.

Below is the first photo of the 8-pound cheeseburger "StrasBurger" that will be on the menu at Nationals Park in Washington this year. It will cost $59, according to Tracee Wilkins of News4 in D.C, who also tweeted out the picture.

Here's the description of the burger from the team's press release:

Weighing eight pounds total (including toppings), the StrasBurger is a monstrous all beef burger (combination of ground brisket, chuck and short ribs). The burger is served on a large burger bun with our secret sauce, American cheese, shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced red onions, pickle chips and served with a cone basket of fresh cut fries and a pitcher of your choice of soft drink. This signature dish is the perfect entrée to share at this affordably-priced family restaurant.

Yum?

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Burger King Japan recently announced a promotion allowing customers to add an extra 15 strips of bacon to their Whoppers for just 100 yen, or about $1.25.  

Taking advantage of the limited-time deal, Japanese website RocketNews upped the ante by ordering a 1,050 bacon strip Whopper, reports Death and Taxes. 

Apparently, there's no limit to the amount of bacon one man can order, though there is to the amount one man can eat: 

SEE ALSO: The 11 Biggest Food Flops Of All Time > 

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A couple weeks ago, McDonald's filed a U.S. federal trademark registration for "McCruncher," reports Scott Hume at Burger Business.

It shouldn't be much of a surprise, because the "crunchy" buzzword is becoming increasingly present in the world of fast food menu items.

Apparently, consumers love it.

In 2009, there were only 69 items with "crunchy" in it on fast food menus, compared to 96 in 2012.

There has been a similar rise at the casual dining chains, while fast casual restaurants have shied away from it.

NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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The W cheeseburger was meant to take on the big guns of the burger business: McDonald's Big Mac and Burger King's Whopper.

But things haven't quite worked out as planned, admitted Wendy's execs on the company's Q1 earnings call.

"We will not promote the W again nationally," said Wendy's CFO Stephen Hare. 

Hare explained the problem:

The point of the W was to create a mid-tier pricing option for customers. However, Instead of driving consumers to trade up from 99 cent products, they saw the opposite thing happen, and people traded down from the premium burgers.

The W started at $2.99, which was too low, when you consider the Dave's Hot 'N Juicy burger at Wendy's is smaller and costs $3.49.

Then, they tried to reposition the W to $3.19 and promoted it as a combo, but it still didn't work.

"Well, the fact is that I personally have consistently seen that those $0.99 shoppers are generally $0.99 shoppers, and you're not likely to be able to move them up to that $2.99 price point," said Wendy's CEO Emil Brolick. "Quite honestly, the positioning of the product was just not the right positioning."

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The rise of the upscale burger chain continues, but it's getting quite crowded in the space. Entrenched brands like Five Guys Burgers and Fries and The Counter jockey for position as chains like Carls Jr. and In-N-Out Burger begin to straddle the line between fast food and fast casual.

Soon, the craze may reach its breaking point, and some brands are going to get smacked hard.

With the crowded industry growing and changing at such a quick pace, chains need any advantage they can get. One important space is technology, because nobody wants to be left behind.

One chain that's determined to maintain its position near the top of the heap is Smashburger. Founded out of Denver, Colorado in 2007 by fast food veteran Tom Ryan, the chain has managed to ride the gourmet burger wave.

It's growing rapidly, having doubled its stores to around 200 in 2011, and it's on a path to reach 500 or 600 in the next few years. Right now, it's in 26 states, and the chain recently opened its first international stores in Kuwait and Canada.

So what's Smashburger doing with tech to improve its stores? A lot of it revolves around digital menu boards.

"One big area it helps is the store atmosphere," says Jeremy Morgan, senior vice president of marketing and consumer insights at Smashburger. "They look great and they make the stores look modern."

Smashburger has done a lot with digital menu boards over the past 12 months. All of the chain's corporate stores now have digital menu boards in them, and several large franchise groups have them as well.

It's fundamentally important that the physical stores fit with the Smashburger brand, explains Morgan, but those signs aren't just there to look pretty. The signs also provide the ability to test new things and make changes quickly.

"A concept like ours likes to be quick, likes to be nimble," says Morgan. "As a new brand we're constantly trying to test new food, test new products, test new offerings. Having the ability to make those changes and not have to print new material is really helpful.

"There's an element of control. We're able to control the content of all menu boards, we're able to control change, and we're also able to really do different things in different stores at the push of a button."

Price changes fall into that bucket as well. Even though Smashburger doesn't do a lot of price changing, it gives the chain's executives comfort that they can change the price without having to pay for the paper materials every time.

It's important for Smashburger to embrace the technology so that they don't get left behind. Other brands have started to embrace them, but they're still not the industry norm.

"You're probably more likely to find the newer chains and newer brands that have them," says Morgan. "It's a little bit easier to get your head around the cost of new builds, versus retrofit."

You're also more likely to see them in upscale chains rather than in traditional fast food restaurants. McDonald's, on the other hand, has made the step of adding digital menu boards for its McCafe drinks, but most stores haven't fully converted.

Smashburger uses two different types of digital menu boards: large, 47-inch panels behind the counter, and register display screens in front fo the cash register.

These screens are placed right in front of the register and face the customer as they're ordering. It increases security and speeds up the line.

"We use it to up-sell — add a coke, add fries, add a milkshake," says Morgan. "We use those for order accuracy."

It's also important for Smashburger to analyze all the data that's coming in from these menus. For that, the company uses Empathica — a customer experience management (CEM) firm that uses reporting technology to set "focus areas for improvement" so that managers don't have to dig through data.

On the digital side, social media is very important to Smashburger.

"Our concept was launched using social media," says Morgan. "We still pay an awful lot of attention to it. We sign each message with that person's name so that they know it's not some random, unknown face."

Smashburger is a bit different from most fast food chains in that it has localized Twitter handles instead of just one.

It does this to make sure that it can deliver all the local content needed to satisfy its customers, "whether that's having half-off shakes because the Twins won a game in Minneapolis or talking about the fact that we're opening our latest and greatest store in Miami," says Morgan.

Smashburger has one national Facebook page it uses to reward its fans with coupons. Most of the couponing Smashburger does is to get people to try different parts of the menu, and promote the new things that it's offering.

NOW SEE: The Gourmet Burger Craze Is About To Reach Its Breaking Point >

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Business ideas are often prompted by a single moment of clarity.

That's what happened to Adam Fleischman, founder of Umami Burger, one of the "better burger" chains that's on the rise right now.

Fleischman described his burger epiphany to Leslie Bargar at LA Magazine:

"Hunched over a ketchup-red plastic cafe-teria tray at the Culver City In-N-Out Burger, Fleischman, a 35-year-old wine entrepreneur, peers into a cardboard box flecked with french fry grease. He ponders the questions that bedevil future restaurant moguls: Why do Americans hunger for pizza and hamburgers more than any other dishes? And why, exactly, is the In-N-Out Double-Double he’s devouring his most beloved indulgence, not to mention one of Southern California’s premier sources of bragging rights?

"Somewhere between bites of the dripping cheeseburger, a word comes to mind that afternoon in 2005. It’s one Fleischman has been encountering often, on select food blogs and in books by the pioneering British chef Heston Blumenthal. That word is umami."

The umami flavor is the fabled "unique fifth taste distinct from the sensations of sweet, sour, salt, and bitter." 

He realized, while chomping away at the Double-Double, that his love for the burger has nothing to do how it was prepared. Hamburgers are America's "preferred umami intake device," and are eaten in gargantuan quantities.

A few years later, he opened a restaurant focused on the umami flavor, and he did it without a business degree or much experience in the food industry.

It's a good thing he had that "aha moment." Fleischman now has a multimillion-dollar restaurant empire in Umami Group, including the L.A. burger joints, a pizza place and more.

NOW SEE: These Burger Design Contests From McDonald's Are Brilliant Marketing Stunts >

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Behold, an ice cream burger. Well, "brrrger," actually.

Carl's Jr. is testing this thing out in select locations in Orange County, California, according to the Huffington Post.

It costs $1.99.

The "bun" is made up of a pair of sugar cookies, the "meat" is chocolate ice cream and the "condiments" are green, yellow and red icing.

How is it? Maria Bartiromo's cousin Cole tasted one last week, and he tweeted that it's "kinda gross" because the sugar cookies are too sweet.

Have you tried this burger-like ice cream sandwich yet? Let us know in the comments or email kbhasin@businessinsider.com.

NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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Fast food burgers, on average, are way bigger than they used to be, according to a graphic released by the Centers for Disease Control.

How much bigger? Three times!

Soda inflation is even crazier. Sodas today are six times larger than they were in the 50s.

Here's the graphic:

NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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Fast food advertising is famous for the discrepancies between what the food looks like in the ad, and what it looks like in real-life.

McDonald's Canada has released a video on YouTube that takes you behind the scenes of a typical photo shoot for one of its advertisements—detailing exactly McDonald's does to make its burgers look so much better than they do in stores.

It was an unexpectedly transparent response to a customer who asked, "Why does your food look different in the advertising than what is in the store?" 

A regular Quarter Pounder takes about a minute to make in-store, but one of McDonald's photo shoots takes a couple hours.

All the ingredients they use are exactly the same as the ones used in stores — patties, buns, ketchup, mustard and all.

They want to show all the elements of the burger in one picture, so it's built specifically so that viewers can see everything. In a McDonald's store, workers would just pile it on in a straight stack.

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New York City's Department of Health shut down Burger King's Whopper Bar in Times Square for the second time in a month due to health code violations, adding to the chain's free fall from fast-food success.

The department cited multiple health code violations, like unrefrigerated, contaminated food and flies in the kitchen, in their decision to shut down the restaurant June 14, according to local news website DNAinfo.com.

BK's Whopper Bar was meant as an upscale alternative to a typical Burger King. The bar offered gourmet spins on the classic Whopper, like the New York Pizza burger with pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce.

But the classiest Burger King couldn't escape rookie sanitation mistakes like these.

"Hand washing facility not provided in or near food preparation area and toilet room," the Health Department's report read. "Soap and an acceptable hand-drying not provided."

Want germs with that? Gross.

Now, read about when we tried Burger King's Bacon Sundae >

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NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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Behold, the KFC 'Cheese Top Burger.'

It's a a fried chicken sandwich topped with garlic-parmesan sauce. Atop the bun lies a layer of American cheese. It looks incredibly inconvenient, and it's only available in the Philippines for a limited time.

Which begs the question: why the heck would someone create this thing?

The ridiculousness of the sandwich has helped it go viral, becoming the latest example of gimmick burger marketing to go wild on the web.

[via greengoddess on Reddit]

NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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The Big Mac is McDonald's biggest and most important brand, and the company is daring to mess with it, reports Scott Hume at Burger Business.

It comes in the form of a Big Mac spinoff in Germany, dubbed the Bigger Big Mac. McDonald's promises that it's 45 percent larger than the standard Big Mac.

It's always dangerous to fidget with brands that are so ingrained in society, so McDonald's is being quite careful. All the ingredients in the Bigger Big Mac remain identical to its iconic sister brand. This one's just bigger.

Hume also speculates that new McDonald's CEO Don Thompson may pick the item to come to the U.S., since he's planning to import more menu items from abroad.

NOW SEE: 12 McDonald's Menu Items That Failed Spectacularly >

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