Mr. Beast Burger on the fritz in Ashburn — and it may be our fault

(UPDATE: As of Thursday evening, October 28, when we checked, the Mr. Beast Burger ordering was back online in Ashburn.)

Ashburn area residents looking to try out the new Mr. Beast Burger delivery service may be having some trouble — and The Burn might be the cause of it.

Last week, we broke the news that the rapidly expanding chain had opened two locations in Loudoun County — one in Sterling and one in Ashburn. The brand, which offers burgers and fries via delivery only, is the brainchild of one of the world’s most popular YouTube stars. (See our reports here.)

Jimmy “Mr. Beast” Donaldson has millions of followers and viewers online. He launched the ghost kitchen concept in December 2020 and it already has more than 1,000 outlets. The locations in Loudoun County are operating out of the area’s two Red Robin restaurants, but the food, preparation and packaging is totally separate from Red Robin.

Today, The Burn started receiving reports that the only items available to order from Mr. Beast Burger in Ashburn were bottled water and bottled soda. No burgers, no chicken sandwiches, no fries.

We spoke with a manager at the Red Robin in Ashburn, at the Shops at Ryan Park. He said orders for Mr. Beast Burger blew up so much in the past week that they ran out of some ingredients. He believed the explosion in orders happened after The Burn’s report was first published. That may be why only beverages are listed as available.

The good news is that new supplies arrived in house on Monday. The bad news is that — for some reason — both the Mr. Beast Burger website and delivery services like DoorDash haven’t been updated and most items still aren’t showing as available. We’re told they are looking into the problem and hope to be back online soon.

Meanwhile, the Mr. Beast Burger in Sterling appears to be fully functioning as of Tuesday evening. It’s not clear whether that location ran into the same problems as Ashburn or not.

It wouldn’t be the first time The Burn has caused problems for a new restaurant. A number of new area restaurants over the past few years have been swamped after an article appeared on The Burn.

We’ve actually had owners ask us not to report they are open and give them a chance to get their “sea legs” before publishing the news. That’s why we often stress that a “soft opening” is a time for a restaurant to work out the kinks and suggest early customers be kind.