- Press -

Shake Shack, one of the most coveted burger brands on the planet, will open its first Triangle location later this year, the restaurant confirmed Thursday.

The New York-based fast food company, famous for roadside-style burgers and crinkle cut fries, will open a counter-service restaurant in a new section of Cary’s Waverly Place shopping center. Shake Shack filed building permit application and development plans earlier this month with the Town of Cary.

Shake Shack confirmed its Cary plans in an emailed response Thursday morning.

“Shake Shack is thrilled to announce it will be setting up its first Shack in Greater Raleigh market in fall 2019,” the company said in a statement.

According to building plans, the Cary Shake Shack will be 3,781 square feet, with a dining room for more than 100 and an outdoor patio with seating for 70.

A Shake Shack spokeswoman said the company has no immediate plans for additional Raleigh-area locations.

Shake Shack is hiring 80 full and part-time employees for the Cary location, according to the statement, and activated the rumor mill earlier this month when it posted a job for a general manager on its website, noting that the company has intentions of opening 40 new restaurants this year.

The restaurant will be the first tenant in a new free-standing “jewel box” building at Waverly Place, Cary planner Kevin Hales said in an email.

Shake Shack was started by celebrity restaurateur Danny Meyer, opening as a true shack in New York’s Madison Square Park. The smell of griddled burgers drew hours-long lines for signature “shack burgers,” fries, hot dogs and frozen custard shakes.

In recent years the company has exploded worldwide, opening dozens of locations and making its first foray into North Carolina last year when it opened two locations in Charlotte.

The statement about the Cary restaurant adds that the company is committed to “green architecture and eco-friendly construction.” The restaurant will be built with “recycled and sustainable materials. Booths will be made from lumber certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, and table tops will be made from reclaimed bowling alley lanes.”