The Midlands’ best burger has deep local roots. The State’s Burger Bracket winner is...

We asked, and you answered.

Mack’s Cash Grocery is officially the home of the best burger in Columbia after beating out Rush’s in the finals of The State’s Burger Bracket.

If there’s one more thing we learned from this tasty competition, it’s that there is no shortage of delicious burgers all throughout the Midlands.

But what exactly makes Mack’s the best? The little Laurel Street restaurant’s secret traces back decades.

Mack’s previous owner, Clyde Patrick, began selling hot dogs in the ‘60s to increase business at his one-person grocery store. The food quickly became a hit among customers, which prompted him to change his business’s focus from grocery store to restaurant. He built a new storefront in 1974 and expanded his offerings to include Mack’s now-famous burgers.

Those handmade burger patties are the same ones customers eat nowadays and have enjoyed for almost 50 years.

The restaurant’s longevity is part of the reason for its success, according to manager Susan Looney. She’s been at Mack’s for 26 years now. (One of the cooks has her beat though, Susan said with a laugh, because they’ve been there for 29 years.)

Mack’s only uses high-quality ingredients and prepares everything by hand, Looney said. This includes cutting fresh tomatoes, onions and lettuce every day, and making its own pimento cheese in-house.

However, Looney said, the best thing about Mack’s is seeing the same customers come back year after year.

“I’ve watched children grow up,” Looney said. “I know their names. And even if I don’t know their names, chances are I know their order. They walk through the door, and I say, ‘Get a cheeseburger going on the grill.’”

Mack’s is also one of the only places in Columbia where you can get a burger at 6 a.m. It’s a surprisingly busy time, because night-shift workers like to stop in for “dinner” on the way home from their jobs, Looney said.

These frequent customers rallied for Mack’s in the finals of The State’s Burger Bracket, where the restaurant won almost 80% of the total votes.

Customers at the restaurant reiterated their support, citing the “great burgers” and “feels-like-home” service as reasons why they believe Mack’s burgers are the best.

Mack’s is located at 1809 Laurel St. in Columbia and is open weekdays from 6 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., offering a variety of snacks, burgers, hot dogs and more. We recommend trying the pimento cheese burger or the fried bologna sandwich — you can thank us later.

Praise for a worthy competitor

Another longtime Midlands staple breezed through the first few rounds of voting for the capital city’s best burger, standing strong at or near the top of the leaderboard right up until the end. Rush’s, we salute you, too.

Rush’s dates back to 1940, when the Rush family opened a small storefront on the edge of their dairy farm on Broad River Road. In the 81 years since then, Rush’s has expanded to have nine locations in and around Columbia.

Through its expansions, the restaurant has remained locally owned and operated and has solidified itself as a staple of Columbia and its surrounding communities.

President Don Alcorn has been with the company for a self-proclaimed “long time” and has seen these impacts firsthand, he said.

All of Rush’s ingredients are produced locally, and the restaurant only serves the highest-quality ingredients, Alcorn said. (They even use Duke’s mayonnaise, which if you didn’t know, the South is obsessed with.)

Outside of its food, Rush’s plays an active role in community engagement. The franchise often partners with local high schools to sponsor sporting events, teams and bands, Alcorn said.

“We really just try to do the best we can every day,” Alcorn said. To him that means always providing excellent service and “supporting the communities that support you.”

Rush’s also has a loyal customer base that the company is grateful to have had all these years, Alcorn said.

“We will always listen to (our customers) first … because they tell us exactly what we need to do for them,” Alcorn said.

It hasn’t gone unnoticed by customers, seeing as they keep coming back so much that the company plans to open more locations, according to its website.

Rush’s has nine locations throughout Columbia, West Columbia, Lexington and Camden. Check out Rush’s website to find the closest store to you, look at menus, hours and more.

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This story was originally published July 16, 2021 at 5:00 AM.