Imagine a business that intentionally tries to kill their customers.
Not only do they try to kill them, but that's kind of the whole point.
All the marketing is focused around killing you, so every customer knows what they're
getting themselves into here.
No, I'm not talking about a euthanasia clinic, and no, I'm not talking about this channel
either.
I've only threatened to kill a handful of people.
So not only is the business in question trying to kill you.
Not only are the customers totally on board with this.
Not only is it not in any way related to medical practice, but it's all totally legal.
So what could I possibly be talking about?
Well, the business in question is The Heart Attack Grill in Las Vegas, Nevada, and their
aim is to literally kill you with their food and drink - and while the restaurant has seen
its fair share of controversy and even some legal trouble, despite having a verified body
count, they operate totally within the law.
Well, probably, I mean I don't know what goes on behind closed doors, y'know maybe the owner
jaywalks across the street to open up in the morning.
But in theory at least the business is legally above board.
Originally opened in Arizona, USA in 2005, the Heart Attack Grill was bizarrely founded
by a former fitness coach, who had come up with the idea while writing a marketing thesis,
inspired by stories about his clients cheating on their diets.
The basic idea is that the food served is so high in fat, sugar and cholesterol that
it is literally life-threateningly bad for you.
Examples from their menu include their bypass burgers, ranging from the single bypass to
the octuple bypass burger, which is about 20,000 calories of beef, fries which are cooked
in pure lard, and milkshakes that are so thick they would turn to butter in the machine had
they any more fat.
If you were to eat this stuff regularly your arteries would be clogged and your heart would
be struggling worse than the reporter the news channel sends out in stormy weather.
This is all played up in the restaurant's marketing.
It's themed after a hospital.
Customers, aka "patients" are given hospital gowns and wristbands to wear and the waitresses,
who take your "prescription" rather than your order, are all dressed in skimpy nurse outfits.
This has drawn some ire from nurses' groups who say the sexy nurse stereotype is a harmful
and demeaning depiction of their profession.
That might be a bit of an overreaction, I mean I've seen plenty of sexy nurse costumes
but that doesn't change the fact that when I go to the hospital I respect the healing
power of the nurses breastmilk.
The Heart Attack Grill did not care for these opinions.
Although they did care when the state board of nursing made a complaint to the Attorney
General's Office.
You see, the restaurant was actually breaking the law in calling their waitresses nurses.
It turns out you actually need a license to be a medical professional, you can't just
pretend to be one.
Yeah, I know, this is news to me too, I'll probably have to pretend to be a cop to get
through traffic now.
The Heart Attack Grill was forced to add an asterisk beside all mentions of the word nurse,
explaining that it was parody.
But that's not all.
If you ask staff, they'll bring you to the weighing machine in the middle of the restaurant,
and if your weight comes in over 350 pounds, you eat for free.
The idea is basically if you're that obese, this restaraunt is only too happy to give
you that little push over the edge to kill you.
They'll literally do it for free.
They also offer challengers to customers to finish their food.
If you can finish a triple or quadruple bypass burger, a nurse will place you in a wheelchair
and wheel you out to your car, or mobility scooter or whatever the fuck you've got outside
cuz god knows you aren't walking.
If you cannot manage to beat the Heart Attack Grill challenge a nurse will instead spank
you with a paddle.
Yeah, I bet that isn't hugely awkward for everyone involved.
Well, except the people who intentionally don't finish I guess.
So they've got a gimmick and they're pretty committed to the theme, ok, but have they
actually killed anybody?
I mean, that's kinda how they market the whole thing but if you're not killing people, in
my view this is just a cheap, tacky novelty that's actually pretty gross.
But if you're so committed to the theme that you will actually legitimately kill people,
well then I have admire that, honestly.
And the answer is yes, there've been a few deaths linked to the restaurant and the Heart
Attack Grill seems kind of proud of it.
In 2011 the restaurant's spokeperson died after failing to recover from the flu.
He was 29 years old, weighed 575 pounds and regularly ate at the Heart Attack Grill.
It's been pointed out that had he not been so overweight the chances of dying from the
flu would have been a lot smaller, and I'm not a doctor, but speaking as someone who's
had the flu many times without dying, I'm gonna say, yeah, that's probably the case.
In 2013, the restaurant's unofficial mascot, a regular who ate there every single day,
died of a heart attack right outside the diner.
He was 52.
And those were spokespeople for the restaurant.
There have been plenty of incidents of average customers suffering medical issues while in
the restaurant.
In an interview the owner even produced a clear bag of ash - the remains of a customer
who had died in the Heart Attack Grill.
Now that's committment.
And while the owner has talked down the resturant's marketing in interviews, saying his intent
is moreso to shine a light on the epidemic of obesity rather than to actually kill people,
I'm gonna guess that's purely so he doesn't get sued.
This restaurant wants to kill you, and even moreso, it wants free publicity, and all these
incidents just served to further that end.
The whole thing is a marketing gimmick and I feel a little dirty by making a video about
it because in doing so I'm playing directly into their hands, but you know what, if you're
prepared to show off the powdered remains of someone you killed as a marketing ploy,
I gotta respect that.
That's hardcore.
So hey look, I may be giving them free advertising, and as much as it pains every bone in my body
to do literally anything for free, I am getting a video out of it.
And, if I'm going to plug someone else's business I might as well get my own shit in here too.
So if you don't want to end up in a clear plastic bag on this channel, well then you'd
better subscribe and maybe buy some merch or a channel membership.
Actually the plastic bag's been done.
Maybe you'll appear as a fistful of teeth or a pair of eyes floating in a jar.
Hell, maybe I'll hop on camera with a new set of lips.