What It's Like To Work With MrBeast for 24 Hours

Two months ago, MrBeast opened the first customer-facing location of his nationwide fast food brand, MrBeast Burger. What transpired—was madness. 

Thousands of people showed up for the opening, many of whom camped out for days in advance. The crowds grew so large that almost as soon as the doors opened, MrBeast and his staff started to wonder whether they’d be able to serve every eager (and hungry) fan. They ended up 3xing the world record of most burgers sold by one restaurant in a single day.

Colin and Samir were there to document the whole thing with exclusive access to MrBeast, his manager Reed Duchscher, the restaurant staff, and fans, plus a look at all the work it took to pull off a string of firsts: MrBeast’s first restaurant opening, his team’s first world record, and the first MrBeast fan event of this size—all in 24 hours.

If you haven’t seen the amazing doc Colin and Samir made throughout the momentous weekend—and edited over eight weeks with the C&S team editor Chris Schwaar—do that here. 

We’re spending this Sunday shedding light on what went into the production process and what it’s like working with MrBeast to make the impossible possible—and why this is only the beginning.

Why film MrBeast for 24 hours?

Colin and Samir have interviewed Jimmy Donaldson (aka MrBeast) multiple times over the years, building a trusted rapport with the most-subscribed-to YouTuber.

“The way we approach telling his story as well as other creator stories is we deeply care about how everyone in our industry is perceived, how the stories are told, and that has led to natural friendships of everyone caring about the same thing,” Samir said on the Colin and Samir podcast.

So when Donaldson invited Colin and Samir to the opening of MrBeast Burger, they jumped at the opportunity. 

OG Colin and Samir followers know that documentary film work has been a part of the channel’s identity from the jump.

“It’s pretty amazing for me that you can look back and this Beast piece is new and different, but it is perfectly tied to your roots, and it feels like the culmination of so much you’ve been working toward,” Schwaar said on the podcast.

When Colin and Samir started their channel, they primarily made documentary-style videos. They did a road-trip series with Jack Coyne and profiled creators like YouTuber James Rath. On Twitter they hosted #WeekendFilmFest, a weekly competition during which they would share a prompt like “tell a story about your hometown hero” and users would submit a 60-second video for the chance to win a prize. 

“This piece feels like the piece we’ve been wanting to make for so long. If you’ve followed us then you know that. If you’re new then you might be like ‘oh, that’s cool.’ But this has been the dream,” Samir said.

So what was it like on-site at MrBeast Burger?

“One of our biggest concerns was ‘can we open?’” Robbie Earl, president of Virtual Dining Concepts, told the Press. “But you know, Jimmy was quite right. He's like, ‘we gotta make today amazing, or there is no tomorrow.’”

So they called in overtime crew members and brought in staff from nearby restaurants to help with opening day. Earl told us they had to change the plan for operations three separate times, paring down the menu to two items for faster service, switching to a new point-of-sale system when the first one crashed, reassembling line cook strategies, and more. 

“The thing we look for in the kitchen is ticket times,” Earl said. “How fast do you order and how fast do you get your food? A healthy one is six minutes, and we got it down to one minute.”

All the while, MrBeast was doing his best multitasking, from working behind the counter to taking pictures and meeting with fans.

“He was in problem-solving mode immediately and just like ‘how do I make sure that this happens in the best way possible?,’” Samir said.

How does the restaurant fit in with MrBeast’s brand?

The opening became one of the biggest public events MrBeast has hosted. “It was like the biggest fan meetup ever and the first time that he was going to engage with his fans physically like that,” Samir said. “And there was this mismatch of ‘we’re opening a restaurant’ versus ‘this is the first time that I, as the brand MrBeast, am going to interface with a massive portion of my fan base.’”

Because it was such a big event, MrBeast knew he had to include features that made it a MrBeast experience, including giveaways and games with creators like Karl and Nolan.

Earl said he hadn’t seen anything like it. “For me, three things stick out on Jimmy: number one, his work ethic is off the charts. His ability to do more, to keep pushing, that drive—you rarely ever see that in people, and he’s someone who’s managed to master that at a very young age. 

“The second thing: he’s probably the greatest growth-marketing person on the planet. Jimmy is so young, has done all of this, and it really hits it home.

“Three: his understanding of people, which is so imperative for hospitality in general, which I spent my whole life in,” Earl said. “I’ve only seen that skillset in two other people—that’s my father and Guy Fieri. It sounds funny but when you meet these people, you see that they really understand others. There’s a general ability to relate to anyone, to have a conversation with anyone, and to be able to be put in this environment and thrive and delight.”

How does the restaurant crew feel in the aftermath?

“Every emotion,” Earl said. “And ‘what can we do to keep making it better?’ That's something Jimmy drives home, which some people can find exhausting. But in the right environment, it can create magic.”

They plan to continue opening new MrBeast Burgers in the next year, though those locations have yet to be determined. 

“The reality is never what you prepare for,” Earl said. “I'm sure when we do it again, I'll probably be subconsciously picturing [the American Dream mall] in my head and it might be double or triple the people. So I've given up trying to predict the future and I've embraced chaos.”

Our Take

This generation of YouTubers has a power that celebs who opened restaurants before them didn’t—creators aren’t just directors, editors, and actors. They’re also operators. That makes a launch like MrBeast’s restaurant different from the rest. When MrBeast walks in, he can connect with his fans in a deeper way, knowing that he played a fundamental part in building the experience they’re willing to camp out for.

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