MUSKEGON, Mich. — A popular burger spot in Muskegon will be hosting pop-up shops in downtown Grand Rapids through December.
Hamburger Mikey won four awards at the Taste of Muskegon food competition event this year. They won first place for people's choice, first place for best new bite, best booth and second place for best taste.
Now, they're bringing that taste to City Built Brewing Company, located at 820 Monroe Ave. NW. in Downtown Grand Rapids.
Tim Taylor, managing partner of Hamburger Mikey, said the idea came about while talking with his friend who owns City Built Brewing Company.
"We thought about something unique or different we could do is take the product from Hamburger Mikey here and pop up in Grand Rapids and give that whole area a chance to actually try Hamburger Mikey," Taylor said.
Starting Dec. 4, Hamburger Mikey will be taking over the kitchen at City Built every Monday in order to give people that chance.
"We're closed Mondays," Taylor said, referring to their Muskegon location. "And I want to do something exciting, something different. Our demographic does hit out into Grand Rapids, we have a lot of customers that drive in from Grand Rapids and it's just something fun and exciting to do during the holidays."
Taylor explained that he and his stepfather opened the restaurant in Muskegon just seven years ago, not expecting it to become what it is today.
"For us to have a chance to even expand or move on is a dream, a dream for us," Taylor said.
He also said they are in the works of opening a Grand Haven location, but that they are taking it all day by day.
"Muskegon and the surrounding areas really have come out for our restaurant. We are very blessed we have some of the most amazing customers and amazing staff that makes all this happen," said Taylor.
"We got that Cheers kind of atmosphere here," Taylor said. "We know customers coming in by their name, their order, and especially when the new customers come in it's exciting because we get to show them you know, what we're all about."
He said the pop-up will be open from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m. on Mondays, besides Christmas Day, but will open up again on New Year's Day from noon to 5 p.m.
"It's about 90% of what we offer here," said Taylor about what the pop-up menu will feature. "It's gonna be build your own single or double patty that's the Mikey original, the fat Mikey, build your own your type of cheese or type our signature sauce you want on it. And then of course, we're gonna give you the big bag of fries like we do here which feed about two to three people with different types of dipping sauces, and then we'll come with what we call burger the month."
The burger of the month for December will be the lobster burger, which was featured on America's Best Restaurants.
Taylor said he is excited to see what will come of the pop-ups, and that they are looking into different collaborations.
"They're going to pair amazingly with our burger and fries," Taylor said. "They're using their beer for a beer pizza sauce, so maybe something like that."
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