Confession time: My favorite food in the whole world is Venison.
This blog may cause you to think otherwise, but when I started it, I knew that “eating Bambi” wouldn’t be the most appealing of subjects. So instead, I decided to write about my favorite food to eat with others, Hamburgers.
It goes back to July 20, 2008 when I asked a large group of friends to join me for Burgers and Beers at PJ Clarke’s. Every year on July 20th, I follow a similar ritual. It’s a tribute to my late Father who absolutely adored Eating with friends. The date is his birthday. It was at the aforementioned dinner when I suggested to my friends that we start a Burger club with a corresponding blog. The intention would be to use the blog as an excuse to Eat and Drink together. I like to refer to this as my Flux Capacitor moment, a nod to the instant Doctor Emmet Brown thought up the idea that eventually lead to a Delorean that could travel through time.
But it wasn’t until October 16th of that same year when my glorious pursuit of delicious Burgers took the form of a blog called Burger Conquest. On that date, a bunch of friend’s and I gathered together at Arthur’s Steakhouse in Hoboken, NJ to share a Burger meal. The Burger at Arthur’s was so darn tasty that I had to tell the world all about and on October 17, 2008, BurgerConquest.com went online.
Since then it’s been a wild, wild ride that’s taken me all over the world where I’ve eaten what feels like every imaginable Burger possible while meeting some of the greatest people on Earth. Burger Conquest has not just been a blog, it’s been a conduit to meeting other Burger fanatics. Through it I became a part of the Food Film Fest, attended many popular Burger events, hosted Burgercons, created off-menu Burgers, helped build businesses like That Burger & Grill ‘Em All, made several television appearances, raised money for charity, and even launched NY Burger Week; a week long celebration of Hamburgers in New York City. That’s pretty amazing to me, considering all I ever intended it be was a reason to eat Burgers with friends.
BURGER CONQUEST – THE STATS
- 1,909 days
- 632 blog posts
- 665 Burgers reviewed by Rev
- 22 Wing-Offs
- 9 TV appearances
- 0 “10 out of 10 ounces”
So what’s the point I am trying to make here? Good question.
I’m announcing my retirement from writing reviews on Burger Conquest.
Yes you read that correctly.
On June 27, 2009 I was attending the Brooklyn Burger n’ Beer Garden at the NYC Food Film Festival when I ate a Burger that blew me away. In fact, the quote I used was “If I could present to you exactly how I think a great burger patty would taste, it would be this burger.” That’s the Burger that caused me to meet Jamie Schweid, SVP of Burger Maker. In case you aren’t familiar, Burger Maker, Inc. is a privately held hamburger and ground beef processor located in Carlstadt, N.J., supplying the highest quality of product and customer service in the food service industry. Burger Maker offers a range of quality products including Certified Angus Beef, Angus Chuck, Prime and Ground Chuck patties and ground beef in vacuum bags. The company is run by Jamie, his brother Brad and their father David, 3 of the 4 generations of Schweids to be in the business.
Whether it was enjoying their product, eating a Burger together, talking business or working with them as sponsors to both the Food Film Festival and NY Burger Week, I’ve developed a great relationship with Jamie, Burger Maker and their Meat. I even had the chance to tour the Burger Maker manufacturing facilities and watch their entire process from receiving to production to testing to shipping happen. I was able to witness first hand just how high of standards of quality, control, cleanliness and professionalism they maintain to run their business. I admire any person or company who does what they do because they love and believe in it. I’ve learned this is most certainly the case at Burger Maker.
That’s why when they offered me a position at the company in late 2013 as the director of marketing, I had to accept.
With almost 20 years background in marketing, branding and sales along with 5+ years of Burger appreciation logged on Burger Conquest, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, the position is a perfect mix of things I’m incredibly passionate about. My role there will be to provide marketing support to our customers and help build the Burger Maker name as a producer of the highest quality Hamburger Meat.
So while this may be the end of reviewing Burgers on the blog, at least for the time being, it’s certainly not the end of my glorious pursuit of delicious burgers. In fact, this is a gift. I am being given an opportunity to take my love of both marketing and Hamburgers and be a part of the industry that’s inspired some of the greatest moments and relationships in my life. Through that, I can help elevate the industry and the Food that I love to eat with others. Now I’ll have the greatest opportunity ever to appreciate eating Burgers with others. I’m honored to become a part of a great family business that has been built on a history of high-quality product and best in class customer service.
My only hope is that I can man the position with justice.
So here it is, time for what would be Burger review #666, which unto itself is a number that has its own implications. But there is some crazy fate happening here that I’d like to run through.
- This blog was inspired by my late father and was conceived on his birth date.
- The blog was born on October 16th, a date that often falls during the NYC Food Film Festival.
- The blog is how I met George Motz and Seth Unger who later asked me to become a part of the Food Film Festival.
- I met Jamie from Burger Maker through the Food Film Festival….on my Mom’s birthday.
- I got offered the job at Burger Maker after I had reviewed 665 Burgers on the website.
- Burger Maker is located at 666 16th Street in Carlstadt, NJ
- January 6th, 1969, was my father’s first official day on the job with the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the company that he worked for until he retired in November of 1992.
- I am posting my retirement of this blog on January 6th, 2014 with a final review that happened in November of 2013.
Coincidence? Karma? Destiny? Couldn’t say for certainly but I am sure it does mean my Dad will continue to be constant influence in my life.
Thank you to every single person that has ever read, shared or influenced this blog in any way, shape or form. There are way, way, way too many to list and they’ve all been thanked many times in the course of this site already. A few special mentions do need to be made here though: I would like to thank my family for all the support and foundation they helped to give me. There is no possible way I could ever put into words the intensity and amount of appreciation I have for the support my wife Cara gives me. She is the most magical, hilarious, fun and heart-filled person I have ever met. I’m really glad she loves Burgers. I send massive amounts of gratitude and love to my family in The Food Film Festival. You are among my favorite people to eat with and without you, this opportunity would’ve never happened. To the Schweids and everyone else at Burger Maker, I could not be more excited to join you on this tasty, delicious glorious pursuit of delicious Burgers.
TL;DR – This blog is changing direction because I am going to work for a company that makes Burgers.
