HURON ­— After an exciting month of diners enjoying burgers from eight different participating restaurants, Ryan’s Hangar was recognized as the winner of the first Huron Burger Battle, held February 1-29, and co-sponsored by Huron Connect and the Huron Community Improvement Committee.

Ryan’s Hangar featured a “Spicy Aloha Burger” as its entry. The burger was labeled as having “perfectly-seasoned ground beef patties, Aloha hamburger sauce, pineapple relish, and chipotle mayo” on it. The burger was topped with bacon and cheese and offered with a choice of side.

Ryan Hofer stated that he drew inspiration for this burger from a burger he had on a road trip.

“I went to a football game in Atlanta and had a burger downtown there that was a ‘Spicy Hawaiian’ burger,” Hofer said. “It took this many years, 12 years it took me to finally bring it to the restaurant - to have the motivation to put it together.”

Hofer said that while the burger isn’t an exact copy of the burger that gave him the creative inspiration, it did inspire the concept. He noted that one other restaurant in the competition also utilized pineapple in their specialty burger.

“Originally, I asked someone if we were all going to know what the other places were doing before the choices were final,” Hofer recalled. “I’m glad they didn’t because I’m not sure if I would have done it with another place having pineapple, too.”

Hofer explained that the volume of orders did lead to a change in prep in the kitchen, though he emphasized that each burger was still made to order.

During the month of February across the eight participating businesses, 4,182 contest burgers were sold, with Hofer saying that 615 were sold at his business. Diners completed 143 passports, recognizing that they had enjoyed all eight participating burgers, and 1,809 total surveys were completed.

When the surveys were tabulated, Ryan’s Hangar came out on top, with very high marks in service carrying them to a win as other scores were very close. Hofer expressed the pride he had in the wait staff earning the victory for the business.

“We didn’t have a specific focus on ‘increasing’ service because of the Burger Battle,” Hofer explained. “(The wait staff) did take pride in winning. They may have stepped up service on their own accord, and it showed.”