Meyer is from St. Louis, but ran a number of very successful, very high end restaurants in New York. Union Square Cafe, Gramercy Tavern, Tabla a bunch of others, all wildly successful.
Shake Shack is his first mass-market venture, and because of the price point he’s putting them in wealthy, hipsterish towns where people don’t mind overpaying for things for the sake of being trendy. He is a self made billionaire in the restaurant trade though, which is not something a simpleton can do.
Even with all the adulation, the proof is in the burger, of which I’ve never seen, heard of or tasted.
There are probably quite a few other venues of which I’ve heard that are equally good. I don’t really care, actually.