Makenzie HuberSioux Falls Argus LeaderView Comments
Chad Pickard went into this year’s Downtown Sioux Falls Burger Battle with a strategy.
The owner of Spoke-n-Sport put together a spreadsheet, preparing to rank the burgers based on category. He planned out his meals based on which burgers looked most appetizing, which flavors sounded the most appealing, and how COVID-19 would factor into how busy the restaurants would be throughout the day.
By the end, he was able to eat all 24 burgers. He even recruited his daughter to help him eat at all the restaurants.
Overall, he spent nearly $500, including tips and taxes, he estimates. It was worth it.
“That was awesome to call a place and have them say they’re sold out,” he said. “I don’t want these places to disappear. I know that money will stay locally, and that they pay local employees. It’s just fueling a really good system.”
More than 31,000 burgers were sold during the 2021 competition, generating a total of $436,606, according to a news release from MarketBeat. There were 19,000 burgers sold in last year’s Burger Battle — making this year’s sales a 163% increase.
The sales from four-week promotion resulted in an estimated $940,850 economic impact for the community of Sioux Falls, according to DTSF Community Outreach Coordinator Sadie Swier.
“We’re ecstatic from the overwhelming support and involvement from our sponsors, restaurants and other businesses,” Swier said. “The way our community came out to support our local economy showed why Sioux Falls is such a special place to live!”
This year’s competition also helped raise $31,000 for Call to Freedom, a local nonprofit bringing awareness to human trafficking, after Matt Paulson, founder of MarketBeat, pledged to give $1 for each burger sold to the charity, the release added.
More:Papa Woody’s beats the competition for 2021 Burger Battle champion title
Papa Woody’s Woodfire Pizza, which earned the Burger Battle title this year, sold over 1,800 burgers. The fast-casual restaurant opened in the Jones421 building in 2019, and while their focus is pizza, they installed a flat top stove just to participate in the competition. They were one of several first-time competitors in the record-breaking 24 battling restaurants. Your stories live here.Fuel your hometown passion and plug into the stories that define it.Create Account
“After the year that every restaurant and small business owners had, we realized we had to do whatever we could to stay relevant,” said Papa Woody’s co-owner Lisa Esser. “When it’s something that everyone in the city is talking about, you really need to be a part of it.”
Although Esser said the fast-casual business model fared well during the pandemic, there were “many nights we wondered if we’d have a restaurant at the end of the month,” she said.
Esser and her husband, Steve Esser, had been planning to be involved since the 2020 Burger Battles, knowing how popular the competition was. They only had 700 square feet in their kitchen space, so they wanted to limit the burger to ingredients they already had available. Papa Woody’s modeled the burger after its Buffapeño pizza.
She anticipated several burgers would be sold, but she didn’t know that their pizza and side sales would also go up because of the increase in traffic.
“I think saying it was an increase is an understatement,” she said. “We’re up almost 400% from last year.”
While seeing the tremendous influx of business and support was encouraging, the trickle effect from the burger battle was even more gratifying.
“After people would order, they would sit down or they’d walk around as they waited for their food. I’d see people come back to get their food after buying a sweater or something at a shop down the hall,” she said.
Esser said she and Steve already have plans to participate in next year’s Burger Battle — and they’ve already started to craft next year’s contender.
