We Smashed 1 Million Burgers. Here's What We Learned.

Somewhere in Thessaloniki, at 21:42 on a Thursday, burger number one million hit the plancha. Nobody cheered, because the ticket rail was full and table 14 wanted extra pickles. We celebrated afterwards, with burgers.

Lesson one: heat is everything

A smash burger is a race between the crust and the centre. Our planchas run at 230°C. Any lower and you steam the beef. Any higher and the fat smokes before the crust sets. We check every grill with an infrared gun at open and again at 5pm.

“Press hard, press once, never press again. That is the whole religion.”

Lesson two: the bun is not a plate

Potato buns compress without tearing, which means the bun holds the juices instead of surrendering to them. We toast the cut side in beef fat for exactly 40 seconds.

Lesson three: people really like pickles

Across one million burgers, 31% of customers asked for extra pickles. Four people asked for no pickles. We respect all six hundred thousand opinions, but we have now permanently increased the pickle count.