Line stretches down the block for Shake Shack opening in Cow Hollow

Shake Shack opens in Cow Hollow with a line around the block. Shake Shack opens in Cow Hollow with a line around the block. Photo: Blair Heagerty / SFGate Photo: Blair Heagerty / SFGate Image 1 of / 53 Caption Close Line stretches down the block for Shake Shack opening in Cow Hollow 1 / 53 Back to Gallery

At 8:30 a.m., the first person got in line.

At 10:30 a.m., a half-hour prior to opening, the line for the first Shake Shack to open in San Francisco stretched halfway down Fillmore Street.

Store employees handed out cookies and branded totes to eager customers as they queued up, and everyone seemed in great spirits despite the cold morning weather.

At 10:45 a.m., the marching band began to play.

Yes, a marching band performance and a ribbon-cutting ceremony kicked off the first day of business for the new Cow Hollow location.

Gabriel Ortega, a San Francisco native who got in line at 9:15 a.m., said he’d tried Shake Shack before and loves it. He was excited to try the new location on its first day in business.

A group of women who jovially played the iPhone game “Heads Up” while they waited in line all work at nearby Williams Sonoma and said they’ve been eagerly waiting for a new option for lunch in the neighborhood. They got in line at 10:30 a.m.

One wandering passerby asked if people were in line because the food was free. A man in line replied, “No, the burgers are just that good.”

While Shake Shack now has 281 locations around the world, the fast-food empire from famed restauranteur Danny Meyer always incorporates local elements into the menus of its new locations. Bay Area Shake Shacks feature the Golden State Double, a partnership with Richard's Grassfed Beef, a local ranch certified in regenerative agriculture. The burger comes with 100-percent grass-fed beef and is topped with pickles and smoked garlic aioli.

Unique to the San Francisco location are two new concretes (Shake Shack’s custard desserts). The Cold Rush combines frozen vanilla custard, salted caramel sauce, and B. Patisserie’s Kouign Amann. The Great Escape includes vanilla custard, strawberry puree and Dough XX (a La Cocina tenant) salted sugar cookie dough. Other local items include beers from Fort Point, 21st Amendment Brewery, and Drake’s Brewing Company. (See all these local menu items in the slideshow above.)

This won’t be SF’s only Shake Shack. Plans are already in the works for a Westfield San Francisco location. The burger chain already has Bay Area locations in Palo Alto, Marin County, and San Mateo and is planning on another in Valley Fair in Santa Clara.

Shake Shack Cow Hollow shares the former Real Foods Co. space at 3060 Fillmore Street with Indie Superette, a Hawaiian-inspired health food market and cafe from local restaurateur Michael Mina.

But not everyone’s happy about Shake Shack’s rapid expansion in the Bay Area. Neighborhood restaurants have voiced concern about the chain affecting their business and the restaurant had to go up against San Francisco’s law regulating formula retail before it could open.

By noon, the line for burgers was still out the door, but only by a few customers. For those that didn’t mind missing the entertainment and fanfare of opening, they would have been better off waiting until lunchtime for their meal.

Shake Shack Cow Hollow is open 11 a.m. - 10 p.m., Sunday through Thursday, and 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

Tessa McLean is a digital editor with SFGATE. Email her at tessa.mclean@sfgate.com or follow her on Twitter @mcleantessa.