---
title: "Someone Stole 1,000 Racks of Shake Shack’s Baby Back Ribs. It Almost Killed Their Hottest New Sandwich."
url: https://burnaze.com/article/b37b02d2-cc5b-421f-9a76-2022303a3d01
source: "Entrepreneur Franchise"
original_url: https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/someone-stole-1000-racks-of-shake-shack-baby-back-ribs
author: "Jonathan Small"
category: "Burger"
industry: "Restaurants"
segment: "Burger"
published: 2026-06-09T13:03:00.000Z
modified: 2026-11-01T22:32:14.491Z
image: https://www.entrepreneur.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/06/shake-shack-0626-g-2203343181.jpg
---

# Someone Stole 1,000 Racks of Shake Shack’s Baby Back Ribs. It Almost Killed Their Hottest New Sandwich.

**TL;DR:** A truckload of over 1,000 racks of Shake Shack's baby back ribs was stolen in Mexico, nearly killing the chain's new BBQ sandwich. The theft led to a scramble to source enough ribs to meet demand, with CEO Rob Lynch commenting on the incident at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference.

*By Jonathan Small, originally published in Entrepreneur Franchise on 2026-06-09. [Read the original](https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/someone-stole-1000-racks-of-shake-shack-baby-back-ribs).*

## Story

A truckload of ribs vanished in Mexico last month, nearly killing Shake Shack’s newest menu item. The CEO says the chain almost ran out.

A rib robbery in Mexico almost cooked Shake Shack’s new BBQ sandwich. A truckload carrying more than 1,000 racks of boneless baby back ribs was stolen south of the border last month, sending the burger chain scrambling to keep its premium BBQ Boneless Baby Back Rib Sandwich on menus. “I mean, you can’t make this up,” CEO Rob Lynch told analysts at the William Blair Growth Stock Conference.

The sandwich launched in late April as part of a Smoky BBQ menu platform and helped lift sales 8% by early May. Lynch said the company put all hands on deck to source enough ribs to meet demand. Shake Shack even leaned into the chaos on social media, wishing Happy National BBQ Day to everyone except the baby back bandits.

Shake Shack isn’t alone. Cargo theft losses in the US surged 60% last year to nearly $725 million, with food and beverage products seeing the largest increase. In March, 12 tons of KitKat bars vanished in transit between Italy and Poland.

## Entities

- QSR (sector)
- Entrepreneur (publication)
- sales growth (topic)
- menu item (topic)
- Mexico (location)
- Shake Shack (company)
- Rob Lynch (person)
- supply chain (topic)
- Jonathan Small (person)
- food and beverage (topic)
- Kit Kat (company)
- cargo theft (topic)

---
Originally reported by Jonathan Small, Entrepreneur Franchise (https://www.entrepreneur.com/business-news/someone-stole-1000-racks-of-shake-shack-baby-back-ribs). Summarized by Burnaze (https://burnaze.com/article/b37b02d2-cc5b-421f-9a76-2022303a3d01).