Andy Reid Has Been Serving His Teams A Pregame ‘Cheeseburger Snack’ For Years

Andy Reid’s love of cheeseburgers has become nearly as synonymous with the coach as football itself. He uses them as metaphors, promises them to players, and has served his teams a literal “cheeseburger snack” the night before games throughout his coaching career.

So, yeah, Kraft Singles choosing Reid as its spokesperson for football season makes a whole lot of sense.

Foodbeast caught up with Reid to talk burgers, his Animal Style In-N-Out order, putting ketchup on Philly cheesesteaks, his favorite Kansas City barbecue, and the steak-and-eggs breakfast he shared with two NFL legends before his famous Punt, Pass & Kick appearance as a kid.

He also told us about the restaurant he’d like to open when his coaching days are over.

That last sentence is where I’d stop. Now I want to read the interview because you’ve planted something I haven’t heard yet.

Foodbeast: How did the partnership with Kraft come about?

Andy Reid: They contacted me knowing that I love cheeseburgers, and I’ve got a long list of sayings that I use with cheeseburgers and with the players. Before every game, I tell them I’ll treat them to a cheeseburger the night before the game, so that word has spread.

What better way of doing it than with Kraft Singles? That’s what I do with all my grandkids and everything. They love Kraft Singles, so I put them on the barbecue and cook up some cheeseburgers. I thought it’d be kind of a neat deal. I love cheeseburgers, and I love football, and they seem like a good marriage.

Foodbeast: When you’re making cheeseburgers at home, what goes on yours besides cheese?

Andy Reid: Big Heinz ketchup guy and big mayonnaise guy. I like all that, tomato, lettuce. But listen, anything’s good. Everybody’s got their own way of doing it, but it starts with the burger and the cheese and the bun.

Foodbeast: If you could get a burger shipped to you from anywhere in the country today, where would it be from?

Andy Reid: Oh, geez. I haven’t met a lot of cheeseburgers that I haven’t liked. Obviously, by my physique, that’s probably hard to tell by now, but I love cheeseburgers.

There are a couple places in Kansas City that have great cheeseburgers, at least the ones I’ve been able to get to that I frequent. I’ve been going to Tommy’s since I was a little kid, In-N-Out likewise. I grew up in California, so those are some of the ones that are top of mind.

Foodbeast: What’s your order at In-N-Out?

Andy Reid: Well, number one’s good. I just change it to a Neapolitan milkshake, but I like it Animal Style, fries and all that.

Foodbeast: Are you dipping your fries in the milkshake?

Andy Reid: I’ve done that when I was younger, but I don’t go that far now.

Foodbeast: Do you have a specific eating routine for game day?

Andy Reid: I don’t eat a whole lot before the game. It’s after the game, after my juices have calmed down a little bit. Before the game, not so much.

Now, the night before the game, we have a cheeseburger snack. We actually call it that, and we’ve done that my whole career as a coach. So if it’s a Sunday game, we’ll have a Saturday cheeseburger snack.

It’s at the hotel. When we’re in town, we stay at a hotel, and when we’re on the road, we stay at a hotel. So we do that there.

Foodbeast: Do you have a favorite cheesesteak from your time in Philly?

Andy Reid: Again, there weren’t a lot of cheesesteaks that I didn’t like. You’re always going to start with Pat’s and Geno’s and then expand from there. I wasn’t turning down cheesesteaks there.

Foodbeast: What is your cheesesteak order?

Andy Reid: I normally get it fairly loaded with the cheese. I’ll always go with sweet peppers and onions, and then I put a little ketchup on it, which might be sacrilegious, but I kind of sneak it in there.

Foodbeast: Which cheese do you pick? Provolone, American, Whiz?

Andy Reid: If you can put it on there, I’m going to eat it.

Foodbeast: If you had your own vending machine in your office, what would you have in it?

Andy Reid: Well, you’d probably have a little fruit there to start with, just so you have something healthy, but then I’d probably have all junk in there between the cheeseburgers and the hot dogs and burritos and everything else, cheesesteaks. You can take everywhere I’ve been and take whatever their favorite food is and throw it in there, and I’d probably be a happy camper.

Foodbeast: What fruit do you like?

Andy Reid: I love apples. Apples cover two bases. They help clean your teeth, and they’re healthy, so that’s a good combination. Bananas because they have no bones, that’s always a good thing. I love all the melons. You can throw all the melons on there you want. There’s not a melon I don’t like.

Foodbeast: What was the best thing you ate at Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s wedding?

Andy Reid: They had quite a spread, which I think Jason probably put together, being one of the big guys. I think they said he was in charge of that, but they had a lot of beef and big slabs of it. They did a good job with it. It was simple food, but it was big portions.

Foodbeast: Can you cook yourself, or when you’re at home, does your wife do most of the cooking?

Andy Reid: She would tell you this because, with the five kids and all that, she put her time in cooking for them. So I’ve kind of taken over since the kids are out of the house and when we have all the kids together. I do most of the cooking now.

Foodbeast: Do you enjoy grilling?

Andy Reid: I love grilling, but I’ve got a flat top, too, that I use in the house. I’ve got a nice big gas burner. She designed the house where the stove is actually for my height and size and everything, so she did it up right.

Foodbeast: If you could own your own food franchise, what would you pick?

Andy Reid: I’d love to start a place of my own down by the beach where my daughter and I are the cooks. She’s a real good cook, so her and I are the cooks. We could call it cheeseburgers or whatever you want to call it.

But something where you’re grilling up simple, good beach food and still get to mingle with the customers. Not too many seats in it, just kind of a dive, and I think that’d be kind of neat.

Foodbeast: Maybe a post-retirement venture?

Andy Reid: Yeah, it could be. My wife would probably shoot me, but that’s all right.

Foodbeast: What’s your best barbecue spot in KC, if you had to pick one?

Andy Reid: What’s kind of cool about that is that’s an easy question to answer because they all have their specialty, so it just depends on what mood you’re in. You want burnt ends, maybe you go to Q39. You want the big beef ribs, maybe you go to Jack Stack. There’s a ton of these things here, and I’ve hit them all.

Most of them have pretty good pork ribs, and they give you a variety. They give you the longer ones plus the baby backs. You get the combination of either, but most of them are pretty good on the ribs there.

Foodbeast: When you did the Punt, Pass & Kick competition as a kid, do you remember what you ate that day? What got you juiced up for that?

Andy Reid: I’ll tell you a neat story on that. I was one of the Rams. I was in a Rams uniform, so I was actually able to have breakfast with Merlin Olsen and Deacon Jones, who were part of the Fearsome Foursome, that defensive front.

Not that they wanted to have breakfast with me, but they did. We were at the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and they kind of ordered for me. I had steak and eggs, and they took care of it for me.

Foodbeast: Do you credit the steak and eggs with giving you the energy you needed that day?

Andy Reid: Yeah, I’ll give it to them. Yeah, for sure.