Ask A&W

I come from a country where burgers get wider, not taller.

I disagree with the glasses part as counterargument. Pizzas are sold by diameter in places that offer large and small - some even do medium. I also believe it would be nicer to have wider burgers instead of taller

Buns and patties would have to come in two different sizes for wide and regular burgers, and it’s probably more economical for restaurants to make them all in one standard size.

This is a dumb response. Wider is easier to fit in your mouth and doesnt fall apart. Taller is just a mess and challenge to eat

TLDR: it's not a volume issue, its a distribution

Nah. If you put two plates in front of me and one had a regular burger on it and the other had a burger that was as wide as the plate itself, I'd pick the one that most accurately reflects how much I hate myself at that moment.

A&W tried something like this. Sold a 1/3 pound burger because its bigger than the popular Quarter Pounder sold by its competition, larger than a Whopper even. It undersold and when people were asked why; it turns out people think 1/3 is less than 1/4. By the numbers, here.

Big burgers should just be two burgers

But wider = more taste surface. See smash burgers. Taller is just... more burger to toppings ratio. Diminishing returns, imo.

I think wider is better so you don't have to unhinge your jaw like a snake to eat it.

In my boyfriend's hometown they used to have this restaurant that served this thing called a hubcap burger

And it was indeed, wide enough to be the hubcap of a car, while being basically flat.

I mean it worked for subway. Until they started skimping

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water-level_task

Food for thought: a sufficiently tall and narrow burger ain't a burger anymore, when it's roughly spherical rather than roughly cylindrical it's also not a burger and if it's large and brick-like it's yet something else.

So burger is a geometrically bound dish definition.

Nobody said it. So be it...

A regular size, ⅓lb burger is plenty for anybody. If it was unsatisfying, use better ingredients or stronger flavours.

It's not a comparison of size, it's just the formatting of the sandwich to fit better with the way the human jaw is made... What a dumb argument

It's true. I'm a bartender. When I serve a drink in a to-go cup I sometimes get people bitching "oh, that's all I get?" and then I passive aggressively demonstrate to them that it's the same as it would be in a pint glass but it's just shorter and wider.

Literally at my restaurant right now the burger with 3 smaller patties is more popular than the burger with 2 bigger patties. Same total amount of meat, just taller on a smaller bun...

Thanks to pizza, even Americans are familiar with the concept of wide

Burgers should neither be taller nor wider. Just give me two normal sized burgers.

At a certain point you have to cut the burger like a pizza though

The fundamental problem is that burgers are a stack.

I mean, humans completely suck at evaluating vertical distances, thinking that taller = more is just further evidence, I'd say

I want a place that makes tiny burgers

Forget the premium burger places where burgers are held together by whaling harpoons and you need to eat them deconstructed. Instead of one giant undesirable burger give me a plate with 4 regular sized burgers in exciting variations.

Give me a chicken chili burger, a double irish beef patty blue cheese burger, an italian herb lamb patty and as a chaser a smoked bison brisket with bourbon sauce.

All on one plate. I would be happy

4 burgers. 1 plate. 0 regrets.

And if you don't like one, you have 3 more chances to forgive the cook.

Yup. Which sold better, the whopper (wider) or the big Mac(taller)

Wider means you get more of the same, taller means you can get more ingredients. If I order a burger with all the fixings, I'd rather a tall burger than lettuce to one side and onion to the other.

You could also just have 2 regular sized ones or stop being such a fat ass.

It’s in comparison, the plate you’re eating off of is the closest thing to compare it to so covering more of it makes it seem bigger

This is why buffets use small plates

counterpoint: wattaburger in texas is very popular

Yesss, taller burgers are anything but nice.

I mean, I can't argue with the little girl though, I like that tall thin glass better as well.
Add a fun straw and some decorations and I'm all in.

As a sophisticated man of discriminating taste and impeccable manners, I eat these crazy tall burgers with a knife and fork. Just kidding, I use a knife and fork because they are too tall for my mouth and too messy for my beard.

I get bigger burgers not for more food but for more satisfying bites. A tall stacked smash burger or a juicy pink tall burger are way more satisfying to bite into

But if it is wider it cooks through more. A nice thick patty gives me a nice tasty medium rare burger that soaks the bun with burger juice.

I was on your side until that gibberish about Chicago style pizza.

Just go snake mode and unhinge your jaw.

So the invisible hand of the market has spoken, I see

I'll take whatever gets my beard the least messy.

As a person who cannot unhook my jaw in the same way that a snake is able to, I am all for the idea of wider, flatter burgers.

Heuristics are real things deserving of both respect and fear.

Chilis used to make a Terlingua Pride Burger, it was wide AF. It was kinda fun, but the bun got soggy before you could finish it and it would start to fall apart.

Still miss it, though.

Especially sucks for people with jaw problems who can't open their mouth that wide. But you're totally wrong about deep dish pizza

Yeah but A&W tried numbers. A purely vibes based experiment with burger width vs height may prove differently.

if i'm hungry enough to want a huge burger, i'd rather have two reasonably sized burgers instead.

Learn how to cook.

I want a burger with the least amount of surface area.