Shake Shack is launching a French onion soup... burger

The fast-casual chain will be hoping premium upsells can fatten up its profit margins.

9/12/25 7:53AM

While many fast-food chains double down on value options, Shake Shack is going in a different direction, betting on premium menu items to lure customers in.

After launching a $10 “Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake,” which helped boost its second-quarter earnings, Shake Shack is back with another indulgent “innovation.” This time it’s a French onion soup burger, which sounds, of course, completely insane, but is basically just a burger topped with the likes of Gruyere cheese, caramelized onions, and roasted garlic Parmesan aioli.

America’s favorite sandwich

The soup-burger idea is only the second offering from Shake Shack’s longer commitment to a premium limited-time menu, with the company now “locked and loaded” with plans for new items over the next 18 months.

In America’s burger market, Shake Shack occupies an interesting space — toward the premium end of the “I fancy a quick burger” scene. By going all in on that message, the NYC-based chain will be hoping to reinvigorate growth and squeeze more sales out of each of its stores.

Data from QSR reveals that the average Shake Shack store generated $3.9 million last year, the fourth-highest average unit volume (AUV) of all burger chains tracked by the magazine.

That figure is some ways off of best-in-class rival In-N-Out, which sold a whopping $5.24 million worth of burgers, fries, and drinks in each of its stores last year, per QSR.

With beef prices continuing to climb — rising ~14% in the last 12 months — adding onions and cheese to a burger, rather than more beef, is a smart upsell. Will it be enough to drive customers back to Shake Shack and get its AUV closer to In-N-Out’s? Time will tell.

Max Knoblauch2h

GM adds Apple Music to select new vehicles, racing to fill the gap left by CarPlay’s absence

Earlier this year, General Motors said it plans to end support for in-vehicle phone projection systems like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto on all of its vehicles (a big expansion of the move it announced for its EVs back in 2023).

Now, the automaker appears to be stocking its replacement system with native apps to fill the void. On Monday, GM announced it was rolling out Apple Music to select 2025 Chevrolet and Cadillac models.

Losing CarPlay is a sore subject for many drivers: 39% of respondents to an American Trucks survey this month said a lack of the system (or Android Auto) is a “deal-breaker” when it comes to buying a new vehicle.

Many automakers appear willing to risk alienating those potential customers in exchange for access to lucrative data. Others, including Tesla, are working to allow CarPlay to boost sagging sales, according to reporting by Bloomberg.