Golden Apple: Brainerd Marketing Class Partners With 612 Station For Burger Challenge

A marketing class at Brainerd High School recently partnered with a local bar and grill to create, design, and market two new burgers for their menu. The challenge pitted the two burgers against each other at the 612 Station in downtown Brainerd to see which one was ordered the most.

The Cowboy Burger and the Oldsmobile – these are the the names of two unique burgers created by the Brainerd High School marketing class for their new burger challenge.

“Basically, the students had to come up with different burger ideas and then working with the 612 Station here in town, they voted on top two ideas, and from there they broke into teams and developed all the marketing material,” said Brainerd High School business teacher Landon Brainerd.

Landon Brainerd approached fellow teacher Ellen Fussy, who owns the 612 Station, to see if they would want to partner for the project.

“I said ‘sure,’ and so they developed a burger challenge and the kids all developed a hamburger, and I think there were 13 hamburgers, and they voted on the top two,” explained Ellen Fussy, owner of the 612 Station.

The students learned every step that goes into creating a new business item.

“They put up posters around the school. They developed a radio ad. They did a commercial ad they put on Facebook and they just did a real good job creating excitement around their product,” added Fussy. “And that’s what marketing is.”

The two burgers were put on the menu for two weeks, with the winning burger getting to stay.

“We did a two-week competition, and then over those two weeks, however many people went in and ordered the burgers, that ended up being the winner,” explained Brainerd.

The winning burger, the Cowboy Burger, has bacon, cheddar cheese, a house “Reno” sauce, and mac and cheese bites.

The project was mutually beneficial for the students and also for the business that they partnered with.

“The customers have been excited. They ask a lot of questions. We have sold a lot of hamburgers, and I just think we saw a higher traffic than normal over the two-week period of the burger challenge,” said Fussy.

The burger challenge was not only fun for the students, but it gave them the chance to gain real-world experience in marketing.

“It’s pretty interesting. It’s a lot different than just doing simulations and links on his website,” said Brett Besenfelder, who is a student in the marketing class.

“I think any chance that we get to get some real-world experience and apply the information that we’re learning in class. Otherwise, it’s sort of isolated and they don’t really see the true value,” said Brainerd.

Mr. Brainerd and the marketing class hope to keep the project going and partner with more local businesses in the future.

The winning burger is currently being offered at the 612 Station, located on Front Street in downtown Brainerd.