NEW ORLEANS — Andy Reid has a routine for every Chiefs road game. He gathers the team at the hotel the night before the game and imparts some non-football information to his players.
“Every Saturday, he talks about the local cows and what types of burgers we’re going to have,” safety Justin Reid said of his coach with a smile. “He has a motto: Let your personality show and I’ll treat you to a cheeseburger.”
When Andy Reid is not teaching his players the game plan or a technique to improve on the field, he is most often sharing with them his passion, thoughts and experiences with food, which he appreciates as much as a 40-yard pass play.
A couple of years ago, Justin Reid was set to travel to Frankfurt, Germany, to help promote the Chiefs’ 2023 game against the Miami Dolphins in the city. He was surprised when his coach recommended a restaurant with elite German cuisine, Main Tower Restaurant & Lounge.
“It was fire, brah,” Justin Reid said, shaking his head. “It was so good. It was really, really cool.”
Most of the Chiefs have a similar anecdote about Andy Reid.
He is known for many things, including a penchant for trick plays, mastering the screen pass, the NFL’s hardest training camp and an affection for Tommy Bahama Hawaiian shirts.
Reid is also a certified foodie.
When anyone mentions food — any type of cuisine, restaurant or cheeseburger — Reid’s mood almost always improves.
In the past year, The Athletic has asked many in the Chiefs organization a simple question: What is the best meal you’ve ever had with Reid or because of him? Almost every player and coach had a different answer.
“Andy loves food,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “He loves cheeseburgers, but he loves steaks, he loves seafood and it’s always fun to see him enjoying dinner.”
Andy Reid on his favorite restaurant in New Orleans, and why he ‘probably won’t go there’ this year 😂#ChiefsKingdom @KCTV5 pic.twitter.com/PTwyliYHab
— Marleah Campbell (@MarleahKCTV5) January 30, 2025
Since Reid joined the Chiefs in 2013, every offseason has included an annual group dinner at a steakhouse during the NFL owners’ meetings in late March. The dinner recently has featured Hunt, Reid, general manager Brett Veach and team president Mark Donovan. The gathering also serves as Reid’s belated celebration of his March 19 birthday.
“We let him give us the grades for the restaurant,” Hunt said, smiling. “He definitely enjoys chocolate cake.”
Reid and the Chiefs are in one of Reid’s favorite food cities, New Orleans, this week as they seek to win their fourth Lombardi Trophy in six years. If they beat Reid’s former team, the Philadelphia Eagles, in Super Bowl LIX, they will become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
Reid shared the favorite meal he’s ever had in New Orleans, a dining experience that occurred more than 15 years ago when he was coaching the Eagles. Reid was invited to Emeril’s, the acclaimed restaurant of chef Emeril Lagasse, by the head chef at the time, an Eagles fan.
“He said, ‘I’m going to start at the ocean and finish in the mountains,’” Reid said. “He put me in the kitchen and he said, ‘Have at it. I’ll stop when you’re full.’”
Reid said the meal ended four hours later.
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Reid has an affinity for chefs. When possible, he tries to chat with the chef — or multiple chefs — after a meal, which allows him to learn more about the art of cooking.
“Being a cook is like being a coach,” said Dan Williams, the Chiefs’ assistant quarterbacks coach who spent two years as Reid’s assistant. “You’re trying different ingredients. You’re bringing things to the table that might be different than what other people are bringing. You want to put it all together and make the best product. I think that’s how (Reid) equates it.”
One of Reid’s favorite chefs is Michael Mina, an award winner who has 27 restaurants. About a decade ago in Orange County, Calif., Reid and Tammy, his wife, first experienced one of Mina’s best entrees: the Maine lobster pot pie, which is cooked in a copper pot.
The lobster pot pie sparked a conversation between Reid and Mina, which led to their friendship.
“Oh, it’s unbelievable,” Reid said of the dish. “The crust around the copper pot, that’s the best part of it. They don’t put it on the stinkin’ plate. I said, ‘Hey, leave that pot here!’”
During the 2021 season, the Chiefs’ bye week included Thanksgiving Day, which allowed Reid to spend more time at home than at the team’s training facility. That day, he had a question about the turkey. He called Mina.
“I said, ‘Coach me up on cooking the turkey,’” Reid said. “I already knew how to cook the turkey. But about an hour later, I had a whole pad of notes on what to put in this stinkin’ turkey. I go, ‘This is going to be an unbelievable bird right here.’
“I would’ve had to go to the store and buy half the store to put in this turkey. I had a few of the things and went with it and it turned out great.”
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Two summers ago, after President Joe Biden honored the Chiefs at the White House, Reid broke down the food served to them as if he were analyzing a touchdown-scoring play. Before the 15-minute ceremony in the Rose Garden, during which the Chiefs were celebrated as Super Bowl LVII champions, Reid devoured an entree he had never tried before: a French Toast grilled cheese and ham sandwich.
“They sprinkled a little bit of powdered sugar on,” Reid said. “It was phenomenal. There was an abundance of this. They had exotic chicken fingers.”
Then, Reid remembered another dish.
“The best part, which I hadn’t seen before, was little bite-size squares of the heart of the watermelon,” he said. “I went back and talked to (the chef). I just go, ‘You guys are unbelievable.’ Whoever cut all of that out and had the patience to do that, my hat goes off to them.”
What kinda food does the White House serve to the Super Bowl champions?
The full review from Andy Reid 🍗⬇️ (via @Chiefs) pic.twitter.com/a7mDaFBBeL
— NFL (@NFL) June 8, 2023
Last June, after the Chiefs’ second visit to the White House, Reid praised another dish: fried fish tots.
“I had a chance to meet all the chefs,” Reid said. “Everything was bite size, so it gets dangerous.”
Reid doesn’t have much time to cook, but, according to several members of the team, he has perfected mac and cheese. In March 2018, Reid shared the cheeses he uses — fontina, mozzarella, parmesan, sharp cheddar, all grated, gouda and gruyere — with sportswriter Charles McDonald when the two met at an airport.
Last year, Nick Jacobs, a sports producer in Kansas City, tried to get more details on Reid’s mac and cheese recipe just days before Thanksgiving. Reid was coy.
“Yeah, you’d like it,” Reid told Jacobs. “You and I could do some damage on that thing. As long as it tastes good, we eat it. That one tastes pretty good. I can’t give away the secrets, man.”
Growing up in Los Angeles, Reid’s favorite dining-out meal as a kid was a cheeseburger from Original Tommy’s, a fast food joint that has 34 locations, mostly in California.
“I loved it — and chili cheese fries,” Reid said.
Reid loves Original Tommy’s cheeseburgers so much that he has them flown into Kansas City from Los Angeles.
His love for cheeseburgers has remained throughout his coaching career, using them as a way to praise and motivate his players. When Reid was in Philadelphia, several Eagles players used to eat a cheeseburger in the locker room after a pivotal victory. He even suggested a cheeseburger be the prize for a fun bet between him and a player during a game.
During his time with the Chiefs, Reid added a new event to his weekly routine: Friday night date night with Tammy, who is also a certified foodie. A number of those dinners are — you guessed it — cheeseburgers from Five Guys.
Lunchtime 🍔 pic.twitter.com/IQJpJ2GSlR
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 25, 2020
He told 96.5 the Fan how to make his perfect cheeseburger.
“I like it medium,” Reid said in 2015. “It’s hard. I mean, you have to execute that thing the right way. You have to get it to where it’s perfect and juicy when you cut it open but not raw. Then a nice slice of good, fresh Vidalia onion on it. Some mayo and ketchup. A little squirt of mustard but not too much. Pickles, lettuce and tomato and I’m ready to roll.
“The bun becomes very important. To put all that together and make it perfect, there’s some time involved. That’s where it comes in. You practice, you get it right, and then when you bite into it, baby, it’s ecstasy right there.”
The Chiefs won their first championship in 50 years when the team rallied from a 10-point deficit in Super Bowl LIV to beat the San Francisco 49ers. One of Reid’s first on-field interviews after the victory was with NFL Network.
“I’m going to get the biggest cheeseburger you’ve ever seen,” Reid said, smiling and laughing. “It might be a double.”
On Christmas Eve in 2022, the Chiefs beat the Seattle Seahawks. After Reid’s short postgame speech in the locker room, his players, led by quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, surprised him with a wrapped gift. Reid smiled when he opened the box and saw a freshly made double cheeseburger.
“Thank you,” Reid said to his players. “May you all get a gift as great as this: cheeseburgers in paradise, baby.”
The best gift for the best coach ❤️ pic.twitter.com/2Nvw6Oz3BO
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) December 24, 2022
The Chiefs’ success, becoming the NFL’s newest dynasty, has allowed Reid to show his personality through national commercials alongside Mahomes promoting State Farm insurance. When Reid and Mahomes filmed their commercials in Los Angeles in 2023, one of them had to be them eating cheeseburgers together.
“The funniest part was the producer wanted me to try to talk and do my lines with my mouth full of the cheeseburger,” Reid told Complex Sports this past summer. “Pat is sitting right in front of me and I’m trying to do this and there’s cheeseburgers flying everywhere at these guys. They couldn’t hold a straight face. They were dying laughing. Finally, Pat goes, ‘Cut it! We’re not doing this!’”
Reid’s most famous line from the commercials with Mahomes is one he now hears all the time from people — “Explain it again, with those nuggies.” The commercial ends with Reid trying to steal Mahomes’ chicken nuggets.
“He finishes his food fast,” Mahomes told NBC Sports in September. “I’m quick about eating as well. He will grab from other people’s plate. The commercial is really real. That line in the commercial, he made up. He said it once and I remember the director being like, ‘I like that, let’s keep running with that.’”
The Chiefs’ last team meeting the night before a game always ends the same way — with Reid’s signature line: “Treat you to a cheeseburger.”
A spread of food awaits the players, always including cheeseburgers.
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Six years later, Dave Merritt can still remember one of his favorite conversations with Reid.
Merritt, a former NFL linebacker, became a successful defensive backs coach under coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, helping the New York Giants win two Super Bowls. When Reid hired Spagnuolo on Jan. 29, 2019, as the Chiefs’ defensive coordinator, Merritt was a leading candidate to join the coaching staff. But he also was considering joining the Jacksonville Jaguars. When Merritt and Reid chatted, their conversion turned toward contact terms.
“I said, ‘Coach, I don’t care about the contract. Tell me about the food here,’” Merritt said. “He started getting excited, going, ‘Oh, you need to go to Q39! We have the best barbecue!’”
Once Merritt agreed to join the Chiefs, another deal was made: Reid promised Merritt to treat him to his first meal at Q39, one of Kansas City’s most popular barbecue restaurants. Merritt ate the dish Reid recommended: the beef burnt ends.
“I had to report back to him,” Merritt said. “I said, ‘Coach, you were right.’ It was pretty doggone good.”
After the Chiefs won their first championship, Reid took Tammy and other family members to Q39, which surprised the restaurant full of Chiefs fans.
“I had a craving for burnt ends,” Reid said. “I had onion straws with mac and cheese. Doggone it, I had a Diet Coke to chase it.”
Merritt marvels at how Reid bonds with his players over food.
“It may be something that you don’t like that maybe he’s eaten,” Merritt said. “Andy eats everything. He can adapt to whatever it is you like. He can connect with all people.”
Reid had one quibble with Merritt’s statement.
“I like everything except liver,” Reid said.
Three years ago, the Chiefs wanted to sign Justin Reid, who was an unrestricted free agent for the first time in his career. Justin agreed to a three-year deal after dinner with Reid, Veach and Spagnuolo at Stock Hill, one of Kansas City’s best steakhouses.
Throughout the season, Spagnuolo brings large aluminum pans into the Chiefs’ training facility on Fridays. Each pan holds 15 generous portions of banana pudding made by Spagnuolo’s wife, Maria. A couple of years ago, Williams took his first bite of Maria’s banana pudding alongside Reid.
“Man, that took the cake, for sure,” Williams said. “It was phenomenal, the texture, the crunch of the cookie. (Reid) was like, ‘Every time this comes in, we’re having it together.’”
Defensive tackle Tershawn Wharton and right guard Trey Smith are known as the Chiefs linemen who can eat the most food. Smith said his best meals with Reid are in the team hotel on Saturday nights before a game.
“That spread we have, it’s wings, brisket, burgers, hot dogs, pies and cakes,” Smith said, smiling. “It’s ridiculous. Every week, being able to share that meal with him is really the best.
“He’s just like me. I love food, he loves food and we’re both big guys. He gets it. No one wants to see a kale wrap the night before a stressful game.”
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; Andrew Mather / Kansas City Chiefs via AP)
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