Women are claiming this restaurant's 'Labor Inducer' cheeseburger causes them to give birth
A Minnesota restaurant is claiming its cheeseburger can induce labor — and some of its customers seem to agree.
Kelsey Quarberg, owner of the Suburban in Excelsior, Minn., told "Good Morning America" Thursday that her restaurant's infamous burger has as many as five diners seeking its help per day.
And she should know, considering she experienced the phenomenon for herself.
Quarberg was just a week away from her due date last April when she sampled sliders her restaurant was preparing for an upcoming burger competition. The mini burgers — which featured American cheese, peach caramelized onions, spicy Bavarian mustard and spicy Cajun remoulade — were so good she asked the chef for a normal-size version.
Within hours of finishing her meal, she experienced contractions.
"That was literally the last thing I did before I went into labor," Quarberg told "Good Morning America."
The incident led to the dish becoming a staple on Quarberg's menu, with the new mom choosing to name the sandwich the Labor Inducer. Soon, other women reported similar experiences.
Katy Engler ate at the restaurant in July, and she was immediately struck by the menu item.
"When we walked in they had a sign about [the burger] and it felt like a sign from the universe," Engler said. "I had no idea they would have that there."
The mom-to-be was approaching her due date, but doctors had recently told her she showed no signs of going into labor in the immediate future. That changed after she ate the Labor Inducer.
Just like Quarberg, Engler began having contractions within hours. She returned to the restaurant a few weeks later — along with her newborn child — to spread the news.
"At the time [of Elise's birth] I was just tired and in pain but later on we couldn't help but think it was an interesting coincidence," Engler said. "So a few weeks later we went back to the restaurant with our parents and Elise."
The restaurant shared both stories to its social media pages, after which many more pregnant women started coming in for the burger, Quarberg said.
"We were eating there last night and every time we looked at the door a very pregnant woman would walk through," she told "Good Morning America."
Mothers claiming that specific foods — including spicy, greasy ingredients like those found in the Labor Inducer — can trigger contractions is nothing new. However, doctors generally say that there's no scientific evidence to support those theories.
"Your body is made to have labor and to signal labor and it's just trusting in your body to know that when it's the right time when the baby is ready," Dr. Natalie Bulock, an OBGYN, told "Good Morning America" earlier this year.
