The subject of the class was the iconic ShackBurger. | Photo courtesy of Shake Shack
Shake Shack is walking the talk to kick off its 2026 “We Really Cook” marketing campaign: CEO Rob Lynch took out a full-page ad in the New York Times inviting fans and competitors to attend a live class given by none other than head chef John Karangis.
The curriculum: A two-hour lesson in crafting the fast casual’s iconic ShackBurger. The cost: Free.
“We held the class at our new state-of-the-art culinary center in Atlanta on March 4, and we went through every part of our most beloved item on our menu, which is our ShackBurger,” said Karangis, Shake Shack’s executive chef and VP of culinary. “It’s the one most near and dear to us all and the foundation of the brand. We shared the real recipe, explained sourcing and the nuances of scale at the Shacks, and showed attendees all the things that we do so they could replicate it at home on a smaller scale with the same fresh ingredients.”
“Students” were sourced primarily through the registration form linked in the New York Times ad. From there, the group was curated based on proximity to Atlanta, as well as responses that spoke to what participants were most excited to learn and experience through the School of Shack.
“It was really structured in a way as if I had a good friend of mine over to my house; I basically delivered the same way that I would teach him,” said Karangis. “It just felt natural, even though there were lots of cameras around that aren’t so natural in my home.”
The session was professionally filmed and an edited step-by-step video launched on Shake Shack’s YouTube channel. Karangis begins by showing how to precisely slice the fresh Roma tomatoes and prep the lettuce that top every ShackBurger. Next up: a look at the signature blend of beef chuck and brisket that goes into the burger, followed by forming the patties and compressing them with a special mold. Then attendees learned how to make the proprietary Shack Sauce. The lesson wraps up with a demo of the smash cooking technique and ends with building the burger on the toasted bun with all the components.
What started out as a cooking lesson for the brand’s fast-food fans turned out to be a learning experience for the chef as well.
“It was really sort of eye-opening for me, because as a chef, sometimes I might take things for granted,” said Karangis. “We had done some internal dry runs and such, and the more that we rolled through this, we saw that it was a great opportunity to educate as many people on our teams who were not fully aware of all the actual cooking and prep that we do. So it was a win-win, and a lot of fun.”
One of the biggest takeaways for the team was the importance of designing a cooking class that felt approachable and engaging for all skill levels—not just seasoned cooks or competitors, but anyone watching and cooking at home. The attendees also showed strong engagement around the “why” behind techniques, not just the “how,” with everyone asking thoughtful questions that helped shape the flow of the session.
Karangis has worked his way through many facets of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group, the company that started Shake Shack before it later went public. He now focuses on developing culinary-driven items that are cooked fresh at each of the chain’s 770 locations, and his fine-dining pedigree infuses the menu. As part of the “We Really Cook” campaign, some of his recipes are also posted, including the Korean-inspired K-Shack Fried Chicken Sandwich, a popular LTO. It features a boneless fried chicken breast topped with chopped scallions, Napa cabbage kimchi and a spicy-sweet gochujang glaze.
Asked about the ROI from the School of Shack, Karangis replied: “We can’t put a dollar value to it, but we’re proud to share and be transparent. We’re saying, ‘come into our house and we’re going to show you exactly how we do it,’ and my hope and goal is that our guests see that we’re really proud of what we do.”
He and the team would also like to continue the School of Shack momentum with more classes, exposing more people to the brand’s culinary side, although nothing has been firmed up yet.
“I think having executed the first one positively, we can look at the internal feedback and guest feedback and improve the experience; push the envelope a bit,” said Karangis. Perhaps get more attendees involved at a live event and share more menu items, he added.
But ultimately, “we don’t want to make it about us as much as we want to make it about meeting the needs of our guests,” he said.
