I'd certainly go there once :)

I find it is a genius marketing idea. It is controversial, has humor and of course it isn't mandatory for anyone to go there.

The owner might have been a nutritionist, but if he decided he's going to make more money making people fat instead of hearing their complains while they had jo-jo diets I can fully understand it.

The vast majority of my friends are thin/normal and they pig out at least once a week. They just forget to eat dinner just as often. It is all in the ballance.

Imo we need more choices not less in a free world

I absolutely agree that the government has helped get us into the obesity epidemic that we're in now.

I was referring to Michelle Obama pushing the "healthy child" agenda and seeing awful things being said. At least she is trying to do something.

We need to take personal responsibility. We all need to wake up from the sugar, fat, salt haze that is anesthesizing us all so well and get so fed up that we demand change at all levels.

I feel sick now.....

I live near it, but I've never been. I find it ironic that a restaurant points out how unhealthy it is (in name and in advertising) and that people demonize it.

There's a push for fast food to be healthy...and let's face it, it's really not. There are "healthier" options, but it's so processed that it's far from healthy. Which is worse, claiming to be healthy or admitting that it's not?

It exists because it sells. His repeat customers are going to be people who would not eat healthy if this place existed or not. The are people that would go and order multiple quarter pounders if this place were not there to give it all to them in one burger, so why should he not make money? He's not claiming to be healthy, and I think that is to his credit. McDonald's is one of the worst for being fast food and yet trying to claim to be healthy. At least this place is not fooling the people that actually want to be healthy. I want to go to one at some point, just to say I've done it. They probably get a lot of that sort of business too, and that's ok. One visit is not going to do any serious damage to an otherwise healthy person.

We all know fast food is bad, let it be what it is. The American public wants it or it wouldn't continue having success. I say that rather than pushing to get rid of the fast food places we should be pushing to get more healthy places that serve food quickly. Drive through salmon burger on a multi-grain bun with grilled asparagus!

Yeah uh, their 575 pound spokesperson just died at 29. He died of the flu. People do die from the flu but being obese raises that risk and puts you at really bad risk of complications from just about everything medical. Pneumonia is a huge risk for the obese with the flu.

The owner seems to realize that the flu might not have killed him if he weren't morbidly obese according to this quote from the same story, link below.

River came down with the flu last week, and after four days in the hospital, he succumbed to pneumonia, says Jon Basso, owner of the grill and close friend of River .Basso described River's death as "tragic," because he was a "young creative genius, a promising man whose life got cut short because he carried extra weight. Had he been thin, he would have had a tenfold opportunity to survive the pneumonia."

Here's a quote from the owner and friend about his death from this story.


http://abcnews.go.com/Health/HeartHe...ry?id=13056400


Basso is very open about the controversial position he puts himself in by marketing unhealthy food "worth dying for," as the restaurant slogan goes.

"I hired him to promote my food. We are absolutely guilty of glorifying obesity. That's what I do for a living: I make a mockery of heart-related issues in order to sell hamburgers," says Basso.

*LOOKS LIKE THERE IS GOOD MONEY IN MAKING A MOCKERY OUT OF HEAVY PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP. At least, he's legally in the clear...otherwise, well.....

If he knew the impact this would have since he used to own a Jenny Craig, why would he encourage people to abuse their bodies this way? Duh, that's obvious. Isn't it? $$$

Its a free country. He is being out in the open and not deceptive that this food could kill you.

What I don't think is cool, is offering free food to people over 350 lbs.

Thats wrong.

That is just really really sad. The owners of this place should be ashamed of themselves. Rewarding someone for being dangerously overweight. They are profiting/playing off of people's weaknesses and diseases. It's disgusting. :mad:

Originally Posted by corazonas:
what I find crazy is that it doesn't even look that good! It's just fat for the sake of being fat. I spent probably tons of cals on a burger once but it was like kobe beef with brie and all sorts of deliciousness and sweet potato fries. This doesn't even look appetizing- just a gimmick to go against the grain of all the newly healthy restaurant food.

Also, my brother told me if you weigh more than 350 lbs that you eat for FREE. What the ****?

Originally Posted by tschaff04:
That is just really really sad. The owners of this place should be ashamed of themselves. Rewarding someone for being dangerously overweight. They are profiting/playing off of people's weaknesses and diseases. It's disgusting. :mad:

It is sad. Like a bar saying "Alcoholics that have liver damage drink free!" It might be legal but heinously lacks ethics...

I'm sure they would take their money if someone > 350 lbs wanted to pay for their burger. It's all about the choices each person can make.

Many places are heinously unhealthy. At least this one is honest about it, rather than trying to hide their calories or sneaking pancake batter into omelets. Anyone witness the recent bacon explosion at Denny's?

And, he's managed to get people talking about obesity and food and calories, so that's something.