Smashburger

Smashburger

Company type	Private
Genre	Fast casual restaurant
Founded	2007
Founder	Tom Ryan
Headquarters	Denver, Colorado , U.S.
Key people	David Prokupek Chairman & CEO
Products	Burgers, chicken sandwiches, salads, french fries, Häagen-Dazs shakes, soft drinks
Website	smashburger.com
Footnotes / references Slogan: "Every City's Favorite Burger Place", "Smash. Sizzle. Savor."

Smashburger is an American chain of fast casual burgers restaurants that originated in Denver, Colorado. Originally known as IconBurger, the new name refers to the process of smashing a ball of ground beef on a grill to "sear in the juices."

History

Smashburger was founded in 2007 by Tom Ryan, a fast food executive who has worked with a variety of chains including Quiznos, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, and Long John Silver's. In 2007, he was named as one of the Top 25 American food entrepreneurs by Gourmet Magazine. While at Pizza Hut he introduced the company's Stuffed Crust Pizza and Lovers line. At McDonald's, where he was Worldwide Chief Concept Officer, US Chief Marketing Officer and Senior Vice President of Menu Management, he was responsible for launching the McGriddle, McFlurry, Big N' Tasty, Dollar Menu, and Fruit and Yogurt Parfaits. Ryan is is currently Managing Partner and Chief Concept Officer of Consumer Capital Partners, the investment and operating company behind Smashburger that invested $15 million in Smashburger in 2009 to enable a major national expansion. David Prokupek, the private equity firm’s chief investment officer, became Smashburger’s chairman and chief executive officer.

As of early 2011, Smashburger had 100 locations nationwide, and planned to double its store count by the following year. In 2012, the first Smashburger outside the U.S. opened, in Calgary, Alberta, with plans to open locations in Edmonton, Alberta, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Toronto, Ontario.

Corporate Philosophy and Technology

Smashburger describes its mission as "to be every city’s favorite place for burgers.” Smashburger hired Philosophy Communication to help it open corporate locations and to develop its website and to tell the Smashburger story to potential consumers and franchisees. In addition to a wide-ranging but tightly focused media campaign, Smashburger hosted VIP opening nights for key community influencers (including food critics, Yelpers, bloggers, local government, business people and neighbors from surrounding communities) for a sneak preview of the new Smashburger concept.

Smashburger often uses its social media platforms to offer rewards to its fans. Coupons are periodically offered via its Facebook page and the company uses localized Twitter handles instead of a single national account to deliver targeted content such as half-off shakes in the Chicago area when the Bears football team win a game.

Smashburger created a clean and modern look for its locations, in contrast to Five Guys more traditional presentation that features open areas lined with peanut and potato bags. Smashburger implemented an interactive menu experience using two different types of digital menu boards: large, 47-inch panels behind the counter and register, with smaller display screens placed right in front of the register facing the customer as they're order. The idea behind this set up is to increase security, speed up purchases and to help up-sell items such as soda, french fries or milkshakes. Data captured from the menu system is analyzed to determine variances and standard deviations from store to store in an effort to establish a corporate uniformity. For that, the company uses Empathica, a customer experience management (CEM) firm that uses reporting technology to set "focus areas for improvement" so that managers don't have to dig through data. Managers at Smashburger are generally trained in Denver and then relocated to open new stores nationwide.

Accolades

In Denver, the alternative-weekly Westword named it the best locally owned chain for 2008. Later that year, Denver Magazine named it “Most Likely to Succeed” and local ABC affiliate KMGH/Channel 7 touted it as the “best burger” on its “A List.”

In Minnesota, MPLS St. Paul magazine rated Smashburger the best “Thin Burger” (defined as “drive-in or better fast food”), with a score of 96/100.

In 2009, Nation’s Restaurant News, a leading restaurant-industry trade magazine, named Smashburger to its prestigious “Hot Concepts” list. In 2010, the Sin City Smashburger was named one of the top burgers of the year by Las Vegas Weekly.

Menu

Smashburger’s menu focuses primarily on burgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, and salads, with a wide variety of toppings and customized options. The restaurant serves localized burgers in each market based on regional flavors. For instance, The Colorado Burger is only available at Colorado locations. Sides and shakes are often customized as well. Smashburger also offers a variety of sides, including sweet potato fries, fried onions, fried mild green chilies, fried pickles, and chili. Desserts include shakes, malts, and floats made with Häagen-Dazs ice cream.

At one point Smashburger offerings included breakfast, but after realizing the market demand was not as high, those items were removed from the menu.

The chain also serves alcohol, offering beer, wine, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade, in addition to assorted malt beverage floats and liqueur-blended shakes.

External links

• Official site