Freshman Wins Lifetime of Burgers

Carl D. Ehrlich ’09 learned on Wednesday that he would never have to consume another Harvard chickwich or dining hall special dish again. Instead, he’s got an unlimited supply of burgers from Harvard Square’s newest restaurant at his disposal.

Ehrlich won the lifetime supply of burgers from b.good, the new burger joint on Dunster Street that opened yesterday, by writing an essay professing his love of burgers and lack of girlfriends, which he says enables him to be more committed to fast food consumption.

“My blatant lack of a love life will make me a better cousin,” Ehrlich said, referring to the name of the restaurant’s main burger, the “Cousin Oliver.” “Don’t you worry about me missing any meals because of me going on a date or studying with some girl. They hate me.”

The founders of b.good, Anthony Ackil and Jon Olinto, conceived of the contest as a way to include a customer in the restaurant’s opening.

A previous contest had determined the name for b.good’s basic burger, now called “Cousin Oliver” after the cousin on “The Brady Bunch.” This time, the founders challenged patrons to explain why they would be the “best cousin” to their fledgling business.

“We love fast food and want to make it real,” Olinto said. “We want to make the customers feel like a part of what we do.”

In addition to his empty social calendar, Ehrlich beat out 149 other contestants by emphasizing his desperation for a good late-night snack and his resemblance to Cousin Oliver as reasons he should be named “best cousin.”

“Burgers are a welcome alternative to what I usually do for late night food (chewing on my fingers or chasing squirrels with a home-made trident),” Ehrlich wrote.

Ehrlich also wrote that his family’s stress on the importance of nutritional food and a healthy lifestyle makes him the perfect candidate to fill b.good’s “best cousin” role since the restaurant boasts better nutritional value in its food than other fast food chains.

“I can definitely appreciate having good tasting, healthy food near me,” he said.

Ackil and Olinto wrote on their website that they want b.good to serve the food that “we all love”—burgers, salads and fries—but with healthier ingredients and cooking methods than most fast food chains.

b.good, which also has a restaurant on Dartmouth Street in Boston, serves eight kinds of burgers, salads, sandwiches and fries.

According to b.good, while a McDonald’s Big Mac contains 600 calories and Burger King’s Whopper has 710 calories, b.good’s burgers have only 493 calories.

The owners of b.good also say that the restaurant’s french fries have a quarter of the fat and a third of the calories that McDonald’s fries do.

Jordan A. Comins ’09, Ehrlich’s roommate, said Ehrlich’s humor probably made him stand out as the “best cousin.”

“I think they really liked his sense of humor,” Comins said. “He’s a great guy.”

Ehrlich said he will be making far fewer stops in the dining halls now that he has other options.

“I have plans to eat here at least once a day,” he said. “I set a goal for myself: before I graduate, I want to get through 1,000 burgers.”

Ehrlich will have his own credit card to swipe in exchange for each burger and b.good will track the number of burgers Ehrlich consumes over the years, its owners said.

Ehrlich, who is planning on concentrating in economics, said he approves of b.good’s business strategy.

“The marginal cost for one burger is relatively low,” he said. “I think the profit that I bring in will exceed the loss that they experience [from the free burgers].”

But Ehrlich still plans to test the limit of his credit—and the restaurant’s productivity.

In response to a question on the restaurant’s website about the number of burgers he plans to eat, Ehrlich said “‘as many as humanly possible,’ but I don’t want to limit myself. I think a more exact answer would probably be ‘as many as b.good can make.’”