Nobody in Wyoming can get a McDonald’s Quarter Pounder because of an E. coli outbreak that’s hit at least 10 Western states, but just across the border in South Dakota, they’re still serving up the popular burger.
And at the McDonald’s at 3919 Cheyenne Blvd. in Rapid City, hungry customers can chow down on a Quarter Pounder with cheese, then take a selfie with the world’s largest burger.
A humongous 23,000-pound bronze Quarter Pounder with cheese is parked out front of that particular McDonald’s, a beacon calling those who crave one. And because South Dakota isn’t yet caught up by the E. coli outbreak, they can still serve them there, Manager Anna Brotzel told Cowboy State Daily.
“I would say it’s definitely a draw,” she said. “People stop to see it, for sure. It does bring in a lot more attention. People stop and take photos with it, too.”
Wyoming Connection
The giant Quarter Pounder was a collaboration between Utah bronze artist Raymond Gibby and Drew Bott, president of Bott Monument in Riverton, Wyoming, who created the granite pedestal holding up the sculpture, which weighs as much as 92,000 real Quarter Pounders.
Both men described creating the sculpture as the most bizarre project they've ever taken on.
"We've done anything granite, bronze and stainless steel, virtually every veteran monument in the state of Wyoming, and a lot at the Capitol," Bott said. "But the McDonald's one has been the most visible and bizarre thing we've ever done."
At the time, Gibby was working with a PR firm representing several large companies, including McDonald's, Budweiser and Nike. The firm had previously contracted him to create the 9-foot bronze sculpture "Philly Philly" for the Philadelphia Eagles, sponsored by Bud Light.
"When they first contacted me about a giant bronze Quarter Pounder monument, I just started laughing," Gibby told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday. "I'm like, 'You want me to do what?'
“I almost turned it down because I thought, in my egotistical artistic nature, that this would be compromising my artistic integrity. But then I thought, 'How many artists out there can claim to have done such a cool piece of Americana?'"
Gibby took the order.
But his bronze burger would need a pedestal, so he contacted the company he worked with to create the granite base for the Philadelphia Eagles sculpture, “My buddy," said Bott.
Bott is the fifth-generation owner of Bott Monument, which has been doing pedestals, monuments and memorials across Wyoming and the nation since 1875.
"It'll be 150 years next year, so we've been around for a little bit of time," he said. "When Gibby called and asked if he could send me this NDA (non-disclosure agreement) to sign. We'd never signed an NDA before. Then he sent me what McDonald's had sent him — an image of this ginormous quarter-pound cheeseburger on a very elaborate pedestal.”
Fast Food, Faster Turnover
Bott and Gibby faced an arduous task. The PR firm ordered the commission in December 2019 and wanted the 5-foot-tall, 8-foot-wide bronze burger and its pedestal finished and installed by the end of February 2020.
"My understanding is that February was 'the month of the Quarter Pounder,'" Gibby said. “And they wanted to do something big and important to promote and commemorate that and honor whichever McDonald's franchise was selling the most Quarter Pounders."
Gibby said a bronze sculpture of that size would typically take six months to finish. Had had two months.
"I had to have a conversation with my wife, and she was going to be without a husband and kids without a father for a while," he said. "I missed a lot of the Christmas festivities to get it done in time."
Meanwhile, Bott knew he'd never be able to finish the ornate design of the pedestal in the two-month timeline.
"The original drawing they sent me had Roman-Gothic style columns and curved granite," he said. "It was gorgeous, but I told them they couldn't have that in two months. The time frame was that most people just didn't understand this industry."
Bott designed a pedestal that would be enough to prominently display the bronze burger and could be completed in time for the February 2020 installation. One thing that didn't seem to matter to the PR firm was the cost.
"The cost seemed to be of no consequence to them," he said. "I would guess the bronze hamburger alone was around $95,000, and the original pedestal would have cost around $400,000 if I had time to do it. They didn't seem to care one bit about what it would cost."
Ridiculous (But Fun)
Gibby worked fast and furiously to get the bronze burger ready. Luckily, he had the sculpting and foundry experience to supervise the entire process.
"That may be the quickest turnover of any project I've done," he said. "Most artists don't do the foundry work, but I started as a metal worker in a foundry and learned all the processes. It was something that I knew I could do, and I don't know of any other artists who could tackle that one that fast."
Bott found a piece of solid mahogany granite for a massive, but more modest, pedestal. He had fun picking the best style and color to compliment the commemorative Quarter Pounder.
"The granite has some little orange streaks in it," he said. "We wanted it to look like barbecue sauce had spilled on it. If you look at it closely, you can see it. We tried lots of things with it."
Bott and Gibby acknowledged that it was a unique and enjoyable project despite the accelerated timeline. Bott found inscribing the phrase "Calidum et Deliciose Succosum" into the granite pedestal particularly amusing.
"It's the closest approximation to ‘hot and deliciously juicy’ in Latin," he said. "It was so ridiculous. You can't really translate 'hot and juicy' into Latin. But they wanted that Latin phrase on there, so we said, 'Fine, we'll put that on.' It was fun. It really was."
Snowy Delivery
Against the odds, the bronze burger and its pedestal were finished by the February 2020 deadline. Now, they needed to be delivered and installed wherever the most Quarter Pounders were sold.
"I don't know their end of it, but my end of it was, 'You make a burger, and it'll go to the store that does the best in sales,’" Gibby said.
When they accepted the project, neither Bott nor Gibby knew where the sculpture would be installed.
"The main issue they presented us with is they did not say where it would go," Bott said. "They just said it will be awarded to some McDonald's somewhere in the continental United States, and you need to plan for it to be from Florida to Vermont to California to Washington to anywhere in between. The hardest part was waiting for them to tell me where it was going so I could find a contractor for a foundation."
The winning McDonald's ended up being right next door at a franchise in Rapid City, South Dakota. Bott learned with enough time to pick a piece of South Dakota granite for the pedestal.
"That was important to me," he said. "I told them, 'If you're putting in South Dakota, let's use South Dakota granite and everything.' I think people appreciate that rather than getting it from somewhere else."
Now, all Bott and Gibby had to do was transport their massive pieces to Rapid City. Across Wyoming. In the middle of winter.
"I still remember that trip," Bott said. "We had a big semi taking the pedestal over, and it started snowing really bad. I stopped in Casper, called my wife, and said, 'I think this is really dumb. It is snowing like crazy.' I was shocked they didn't close the roads before I got there."
Gibby was driving his bronze burger on a semi from Utah when the snow stopped him in Rawlins.
"I had to pull out all my skills and years of experience to get it done in time and then basically hope for the best as I traveled across the country in winter weather," Gibby said.
Order Up
Feb. 25, 2020, was the installation day for the bronze burger at the Rapid City McDonald's. Bott will never forget the date because it's the same as his daughter Allie's birthday.
"My daughters Allie and Kendra came with me," he said. "They sat inside the McDonald's all day and watched the installation."
Gibby delivered his bronze burger just in time. Bott said his friend had to "hustle like crazy" to get to Rapid City in time for the installation.
"I don't remember what time he got there that morning," he said. "I felt so bad for him, but it was February in Wyoming and South Dakota. Just a horrible time to do it."
Bott and Gibby found a concrete company willing to pour a foundation for the sculpture in the frigid February temperatures. The PR firm sent a team of "young kids" who had never been to the Black Hills to the installation, and they immensely enjoyed the experience.
"We spent eight hours putting that up right at the end of the drive-thru in the parking lot," Bott said. "The PR team asked if they could just set it in the parking lot, and we had to tell them no. It was bizarre and horribly cold, but also really fun and pretty amazing that we got it done that fast. And it's still standing, so I guess we did OK."
"We needed some pretty big cranes to get that in place," Gibby said.
Bott's daughters didn't mind the eight-hour wait. They received free Happy Meals from the franchise's staff while they watched the installation from the warmth inside.
"My kids are used to our line of work," Bott said. "They will sit for hours in one location, never ask for food, never complain, never get up, nothing. They're used to the fact that when we go on a job, they have to sit and don't come to ask me when we're going because we'll go when I'm done. I have very good girls."
I'm Lovin' It
The finished McDonald's Quarter Pounder Monument is 9 feet tall and 8 feet wide. The combined weight of the bronze burger and its South Dakota granite pedestal is over 23,000 pounds.
"At the time, I wasn't sure having a gigantic quarter-pound hamburger on your portfolio would lead to many more jobs," Gibby said. "It's a badge of honor now just because it's funny. I've thought about getting the Guinness Book of World Records out there to see if it's the largest bronze hamburger in the world."
Bott wanted to keep going. He suggested that the PR firm commission similar monuments for other McDonald's franchises.
"I said they ought to do a giant box of fries in Louisiana or chicken nuggets in another town," he said. "They took it into consideration, but I think they had so many projects that it just fell down the list.
“And it's been a boon for that McDonald's in Rapid City. It was a great location on your way into the Mount Rushmore area. It turned out great."
Bott and Gibby have national profiles and their work can be seen in several states. Nevertheless, the bronze burger has become the most recognized piece they've ever worked on.
"I know people who have traveled from Utah to Rapid City to take pictures next to the giant burger," Gibby said. "I have pieces in 11 galleries, and I've done large monuments and other work all over the country. But they haven't asked me about any of that. They want the picture next to the burger."
"It was very so bizarre to do a project like that," Bott added. "It was just weird. That's the only way to put it: a really weird but fun experience."
Andrew Rossi can be reached at arossi@cowboystatedaily.com.
