Chattanooga Burger Week offers a unique way to experience the city

There are plenty of ways to tour the Scenic City. You can scoot around on a Segway, or ride in a horse-drawn carriage. You can even take an aerial tour via helicopter.

But for a more down-to-earth option, this month, you can explore Chattanooga through one of life’s most essential pleasures: burgers. Locals and tourists alike will have the opportunity to enjoy £7 burger deals and drink specials at participating restaurants during the third annual Chattanooga Burger Week taking place April 10-16. This weeklong, city-wide event, presented by the Tennessee Beef Industry Council, provides locals the chance to tour Chattanooga neighborhoods via their restaurants.

More than 20 eateries will participate with burger deals, showcasing spots from the Southside to the North Shore to Hixson and Hamilton Place. “We’re really, really pleased with our restaurant partners this year,” says Lynsie Shackelford, the director of promotions for Events Hatched, the Tennessee-based festival production company behind burger week. “We feel like it’s a really good lineup, and we’re just excited for [Chattanooga Burger Week] to keep growing.” Shackelford says the events are a great way for people to explore, experience and enjoy all the options the Chattanooga restaurant community has to offer.

“I can tell you personally, I’ve discovered a lot of new restaurants in Chattanooga just from burger week,” she says, “… restaurants that maybe I’ve driven by, and I was like, ‘Oh, I’ll get there eventually.'” Just as the restaurant lineup for this year’s burger week is diverse, so, too, are the burgers. Participating restaurants Bad Daddy’s Burger Bar and Dave & Buster’s will serve up classic cheeseburgers for people wanting more standard fare — while those looking for something out of the ordinary will have such options as Cherry Street Brewing’s “Brewers’ PB&J” which includes ingredients like housemade mango pepper jelly and peanut butter.

And then there is Jack Brown’s Beer and Burger Joint’s crab rangoon burger, featuring housemade crab rangoon filling, fried wonton strips and sticky-sweet chili sauce all on top of a Wagyu beef patty. “It’s amazing to see these chefs really dive in and come up with their own burger concoctions,” Shackelford says, “and some of them are specifically for the week; some of them already exist on the menu which is great. [It’s] a fun, playful week to give people to try food.” In addition to the £7 burger deals, some of the participating restaurants will offer drink specials for patrons who are 21 or older.

These drink specials will incorporate offerings from Nashville-based Corsair Distillery and Virginia-based Two Lane American Golden Lager, both sponsors of Chattanooga Burger Week. During the week, patrons will have the chance to enter giveaways to win various prizes from the event’s sponsors, including the grand prize: gift cards to all of Chattanooga’s participating restaurants, a package valued at over £600. To win, Chattanooga Burger Week patrons will need to check in at each restaurant by scanning a QR code available on-site.

The more restaurants a person visits, the higher their chances of winning the grand prize. In addition to visiting restaurants in person, Shackelford encourages locals to partake in the burger festivities online. “[Social media is] a great way to connect with the community and share your experience while also winning prizes during burger week,” she says.

For more information, follow Chattanooga Burger Week on Instagram and Facebook.

To see a list of participating restaurants, visit chattanoogaburgerweek.com.