Tom Ryan turned bold food ideas into billions! 🍔 🍕

This guy invented stuffed crust McGriddles and smash burger, yet you probably never heard of him. His name is Tom Ryan and he might be the most influential food genius in America. Tom earned a PhD in flavor and fragrance chemistry from the University of Minnesota. He literally became a doctor of taste. His story starts in the 90s when he started working for the corporate side of Pizza Hut. They wanted to create something new and Tom had an idea to put cheese inside the crust. Executives thought it was insane, but when it launched, it became a billion dollar hit. Then McDonald's came calling. They wanted to see what he could do with their breakfast. He he combined the sweet flavor of pancakes with savory sausage and cheese, creating the McGriddle. It instantly became a McDonald's top seller, reshaping fast food breakfast forever. After that, he bounced through Taco Bell, A and W, Long John Silver's constantly reinventing the menu. But Tom wanted to create his own brand. So in 2007, he co founded Smashburger. Instead of giant frozen patties, he smashed fresh beef on a hot griddle. The method exploded and so did his brand. Smashburger scaled to hundreds of locations and got acquired for over $300 million. Making Tom Ryan the real life Willy Wonka for fast food. For more entreprene stories and information like this, follow ubk.