Here's How Burgers Can Be Delivered More Effectively

It's no secret that certain foods taste better than others when ordered for home delivery. Cheeseburgers, for instance, do not travel especially well. When enjoyed straight out of the kitchen in the confines of a restaurant or bar, the burger showcases its finest attributes: a pinkish center, oozing juices, hot and stretchy cheese and crispy toppings, all stacked on a fresh bun.

But what a difference packaging and transport can make. Between the plethora of toppings that can cause the burger to topple, thick sauces that can seep into and make the bun soggy and the relatively short amount of time it takes for the patty and its cheese to cool considerably, even the shortest of trips can become a nightmare for our beloved burger.

That's where Nick Green, head of U.K. sales for delivery app Deliveroo, comes in. According to the Wall Street Journal, he and his team have spent copious amounts of time deeply analyzing how — and how not — to deliver a burger (which, for the record, is either the most or second-most popular delivery item in the U.S., depending on the source).

Deliveroo uses a small corrugated cardboard box to keep the burger patty warm. Slits (or air vents) in these boxes can keep the buns from getting soggy, as they prevent overheating. Meanwhile, simple tricks like sticking a skewer straight through the burger and supplying sauces on the side can work to hold things in place and minimize messiness. Thermal bags, with contents upright and transported at level angles, can also play a role in assuring the best possible delivery.

The smartest decision you can make, should you be craving a burger? Take a smidge of time out of your day and dine in at your neighborhood joint. Being prone to couch-sitting every now and then, though — we would never dream of eating anything but delivery food during our cherished NFL Sundays, for example — we must say it'd be wise to take note of how exactly your favorite local spots are showing up with your grub. There just might be a little more science behind it all than you think.