Le Burger Faktorie's Unironic Bid to Cultivate Buzz is Unintentionally Hilarious

On the face of it, it seems like a sad effort to drum up Shake Shack or Umami Burger-like grassroots hype. But Le Burger Faktorie falls so short of that in delivery and style that it begs the question: is this self-aware performance art?

The new Underground City burger spot wants you to like it - a lot - but also wants you to know that "Shhh it's a Secret!". Forget for a minute, if you can, that the restaurant's website looks like a page from the Wayback Machine archive. Because the man behind the "concept", Michael Stavrou, provides so much more comedy gold to mine on his business site.

To wit:

Stavrou develops great places to eat and drink. We ensure unique architectural and stunning design built with quality materials. Exclusive creations designed to stimulate all the senses in your establishment. Building a restaurant in Montreal, we provide expert turnkey development packages from A to Z.

The Stavrou portfolio includes a lottery bar in Laval, a fast food restaurant in Côte Saint-Luc and a "trattoria". This ersatz Danny Meyer also had a hand in franchise fodder like Poutineville, Eggsquis and Franco & Nino. The infamous Club 1234 too.

Food for thought the next time you find yourself in the Ville-Marie tunnel in search of sustenance.

· There's Hope For The Underground City [CultMTL]
· Le Burger Faktorie [Official Site]
· Michael Stavrou [Official Site]