Starz Media senior vice president of digital media, business development and strategy Marc DeBevoise has parlayed a healthy appetite for good burgers into a potentially lucrative sideline.
DeBevoise is one of the founders of the "Burger of the Month Club," a group started in 2005 with several friends meeting once a month to eat and rank hamburgers served in New York restaurants. The members keep a detail sheet of the places they've visited and, more important, the quality of the hamburgers they eat; they post the rankings on their Web site, www.burgerrankings.com.
Some 56 restaurant reviews later, the club has become something of a cultural phenomenon, with The New York Times devoting significant editorial space to the club this past May in its "Dinner and Dine" section.
Further, the group has also optioned the movie rights to the club and is pitching a book deal, according to DeBevoise, who added that Brooklyn-based restaurant Peter Luger ranks number one on the BOTM list.
"I think the fact that everyone loves a good burger combined with a bunch of everyday guys in a city [like] New York going out and making this a part of their routine resonates with people," DeBevoise said of the group's growing popularity.
