Shake Shack: History, Key Facts and Reviews

2001-2004: a hot dog cart in Madison Square Park

Shake Shack began as a hot dog cart that Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group set up in Madison Square Park, Manhattan, in 2001 to support an art installation called “I ♥ Taxi” (Wikipedia). Randy Garutti, then director of operations, ran the cart out of the kitchen of Eleven Madison Park. When the city sought an operator for a permanent kiosk in the park, Meyer won the bid, and the first Shake Shack opened in July 2004 with burgers, hot dogs, fries and frozen custard shakes. Its ShackBurger, a beef patty with American cheese, lettuce, tomato and ShackSauce, is still the core of the menu; our ShackBurger copycat recipe shows how to make it at home.

2011-2019: Dubai first, then London, Tokyo and Seoul

Shake Shack went abroad before it went national. Its first restaurant outside the United States opened in April 2011 at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai, followed by London in 2013, Tokyo in 2015 and Seoul, near Gangnam Station, in June 2016. Each market is run by a local licensed partner, while Shacks in the US are mostly company-operated. On January 29, 2015, the company priced its IPO at $21 a share; the stock opened at $47 on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker SHAK. In June 2019 the chain reached Latin America with a first Shack on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City, run by Grupo Gigante (Expansión).

2024-2025: a new CEO and 659 Shacks

Shake Shack entered a faster growth phase under Rob Lynch, the former Papa John’s chief executive named CEO in March 2024. In 2025 it opened 45 company-operated and 40 licensed Shacks and ended the year with 659 restaurants: 373 company-operated, 47 licensed in the US and 239 licensed abroad, across 20 markets (Q4 2025 shareholder letter). System-wide sales rose 15.9% to $2.23 billion, and the company employed 13,873 people.

2026: 703 Shacks and the road to 1,500

By July 1, 2026, Shake Shack had 703 restaurants and a stated long-term goal of 1,500 (Q2 2026 shareholder letter). The plan for the year was 60 to 65 company-operated openings and 40 to 45 licensed ones, including first Shacks in Panama and Vietnam in the second half. Outside the US, South Korea is its largest market with 37 Shacks in July 2026, ahead of Mexico, Japan and the United Kingdom, where 11 of the 17 restaurants are in London. Brazil is signed for 2027, as our report on burger chain international expansion in 2026 explains.

Key dates

• 2001: a Shake Shack hot dog cart opens in Madison Square Park, Manhattan.
• 2004: the permanent Shake Shack kiosk opens in the park in July.
• 2011: first restaurant outside the US, at the Mall of the Emirates in Dubai.
• 2015: IPO on the New York Stock Exchange; first Shack in Tokyo.
• 2016: first Shack in South Korea, near Gangnam Station in Seoul.
• 2019: first Shack in Mexico, on Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.
• 2024: Rob Lynch becomes CEO.
• 2026: 703 Shacks on July 1.