GAINESVILLE BURGER CLUB
BURGER SCORING RUBRIC

Gainesville Burger Club has devised a proprietary scoring system for measuring a burger’s overall greatness. The scoring rubric below gives GBC members the ability to objectively determine whether a burger is in the running for the coveted GBC Burger of the Year award. We’ve made it available here for general public use as an educational and scientific resource.

Instructions: Score each category 1-10, 10 being the highest possible score. Then, add up your scores and divide by 10. The result will be your final score of the burger.

  1. _____ General presentation – 10 possible points. Items to consider: height of burger or non-schmushedness of burger, kind of wrapper or plate on or in which the burger awaits you, side garnishes such as olives or pickle spears, etc. Does the burger look to be thrown together by a drunken employee, or does it appear to be the loving creation of a masterful chef?
  2. _____ Burger to Bun ratio – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Does the bun fit the burger? Was the top bun disproportionate to the bottom bun?
  3. _____ Quality of the Bun – 10 possible points. Items to consider: General edibility (i.e. was the bun pliable enough to bite through without causing the burger to shoot out the other side?) What kind of bread was used? Brioche, egg roll, potato roll, etc. Did the bottom bun hold up under the juices from the burger and condiments, or did it disintegrate into a pulpy mess?
  4.  _____ Quality of the Beef – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Was the grind too lean or fatty? Did the patty elicit a general sense of beefiness, or was it flat in taste? Was the patty too densely packed, or was it nice and fluffy, retaining the coveted beef noodles in the center? Obvious pre-formed, frozen patties should automatically receive a zero.
  5. _____ Quality and meltiness of the Cheese – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Was the cheese tasty and provide an additional layer of fat and saltiness to the burger? Was the cheese thoroughly melted?
  6. ______ Quality and relevancy of Toppings – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Freshness of ingredients. Were the lettuce crisp and the tomato ripe? Was it really necessary to include that chunk of Foie Gras? Toppings should add to the symphony that is the burger. Foie Gras might work in some cases, but could be irrelevant in others.
  7. _______ The Sum is greater than its parts – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Did the burger eat like bread, patty, pickles, onions, tomatoes and cheese. Or, did it eat like a perfect totality, comparable to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?
  8. ______ Quality and relevancy of Side Items – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Were the fries limp and an all-around bummer, or were they golden and crispy on the outside, and starchy and fluffy on the inside? If no fries were available, did the establishment provide a suitable substitute? A side of broccoli just doesn’t marry well with a good burger.
  9. ______ Service – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Did a disgruntled line cook emerge from the kitchen and start stacking chairs before you finished your beer and burger?
  10. ______ Intangibles – 10 possible points. Items to consider: Dan Marino went fairly late in the draft to the Miami Dolphins because other teams couldn’t look beyond the stats he put up in his final year of college. Thankfully, Don Shula saw the intangibles this young kid from Pittsburgh possessed.