Though smashburgers are not a new concept, the team behind one restaurant brand thinks this menu item separates them from the competition — mainly because they’ve won so many contests. Hi-Pointe Drive-In was built around this smashburger, which was initially on the menu at Sugarfire Smokehouse, another brand by chef Mike Johnson. It won so many awards both regionally and locally that Johnson thought it could anchor a stand-alone concept.
Johnson brought together a couple of his chef friends to start Hi-Pointe Drive-In in St. Louis in 2017. These weren’t just any chefs — they were all working for big restaurants like Charlie Palmer Steak and Emeril’s.
But this restaurant was going to be different than anything any of them had done before.
Hi-Pointe was named for the neighborhood the first unit opened in. Though it wasn’t the intention, the chefs would begin to emphasize the “hi” in the brand’s name.
Today, six years later, Hi-Pointe Drive-In is focused on a different crowd: stoners. Johnson began to lean into that element with his chef counterparts, and it’s what the chain became known for — serving munchies to stoners.
The chain has gone so far as to create a sauce that has marijuana in it and is sold in dispensaries in St. Louis, each with 100 milligrams of the plant in it.
To solidify their stoner ways, the team has cooked for Snoop Dogg in one restaurant while he was wearing the brand’s shirt and smoking marijuana.
Johnson and his friends began the restaurant with the smashburger as a jumping-off point but quickly evolved the menu to include veggie burgers, salmon, shakes, and more. It’s in the fun, playful menu that Johnson thinks his team thrives. That menu also includes taco burgers, pizza burgers, and burgers with Fritos in the beef mixture — all LTOs, which are what Johnson has the most fun with.
The brand describes itself as “Americanized Tex-Mex.”
“A lot of stuff [we make is] dumb,” Johnson said. “Because it’s just what you might eat if you're really stoned.”
Don’t think these burgers are just there for the “dumb” iterations in the brand’s LTOs. The chain uses Creekstone beef as its main protein. The burgers come in at just about $6.50 for a single patty.
That burger was the award-winner that swept the St. Louis burger competition scene for years, and was crowned the best burger in the world at a Dallas competition.
Despite its popularity, Hi-Pointe Drive-In doesn’t want to franchise — like Sugarfire Smokehouse — until it hits 10 or 12 locations. Currently, the brand has eight units in Missouri and Illinois.
The décor will change as the brand becomes bigger. Currently, most of the units have a “kitschy” décor, complete with Frisch’s Big Boy statues with tattoos and bloodshot eyes meant to mimic the red eyes of a stereotypical stoner. There are also spaceships on the walls.
Johnson doesn’t think this model is widely suitable. First, because the brand is moving into more family-focused neighborhoods where he doesn’t feel it’s appropriate, and second, because he doesn’t know how to source all the items.
“I’m running out of memorabilia,” he said.
The current stoner aesthetic is subtle, according to Johnson, along the lines of, “if you know, you know.” Nothing on the menu is named after strains of marijuana like at some other chains; there’s just a subtle hint throughout the décor and LTOs.
“I don't think everyone knows the joke,” he said. “But for those who do know, it’s like a fun inside joke”
One thing that separates Hi-Pointe Drive-In is the hours: It’s only open until 9 p.m. Unlike late-night eateries that are known for midnight munchies, Hi-Pointe caters to everyone during the day.
Part of the reasoning is that Johnson wants to give his chef a life, a luxury many aren’t afforded working in a restaurant kitchen. Johnson was pulling from his own experience in fine-dining restaurants when he decided this, allowing his chefs to “have a normal life” and “work only 40 hours a week” while still getting insurance and benefits.
