Call for entries: 2015 Burger Brawl
So far, organizer Rob Wasserman has 52 competitors on board for Burger Brawl No. 5. He wants 60.
Burger Brawl - the annual burger taste-test that has turned into a major benefit for Philadelphia schools - is super-sizing this year.
Back again at Xfinity Live in South Philadelphia on Sunday, June 14, Burger Brawl organizer Rob Wasserman is hoping to assemble a lineup of 60 competitors and 5,000 attendees.
So far, Wasserman has 52 competitors on board for this, the fifth Burger Brawl.
In a first, he has secured a promise from Jose Garces' people to represent with Village Whiskey - whose burger is on many local burger-eaters' top-5 lists. (Wasserman's own Rouge and 500 Degrees restaurants serve burgers but do not compete to eliminate any perception of bias.)
Wasserman asks restaurateurs to volunteer by emailing him.
The first Burger Brawl, in 2011, drew 15 competitors and 400 people to the schoolyard of Queen Village's Meredith Elementary. Wasserman and his wife, Maggie, at the time had a son enrolled at the school. Donations helped the school build a computer lab.
Last year's contest drew about 50 restaurants and several thousand people to Xfinity Live.
After last year's Burger Brawl, the Wassermans and Steve and Tamar Olitsky agreed to donate $900,000 to Philadelphia public schools to fund a reading and writing teaching program known as the Integrated Literacy Model (ILM).