View source for Hesburger

{{Short description|Finnish fast food chain}}
{{pp-sock|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox company
| name = Hesburger
| logo = Hesburger logo.svg
| logo_size = 200px
| image = File:16-08-30-Hesburger Riga Latvia-RR2 3694.jpg
| image_caption = A typical Hesburger restaurant in [[Riga]], [[Latvia]]
| type = [[Joint-stock company]]
| industry = [[Restaurants]]
| founder = [[Heikki Salmela]]
| num_locations = 473
| key_people = Heikki Salmela ([[Chairman]])<br />Kari Salmela ([[CEO]])
| products = [[Fast food]] <br />([[hamburgers]]{{•}}[[french fries]]{{•}}[[soft drinks]]{{•}}[[coffee]]{{•}}[[milkshake]]s{{•}}[[salads]]{{•}}[[desserts]])
| revenue = €234 million <small>(2021)</small><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.hesburger.com/about-hesburger/company/organisation-and-key-figures | title=Hesburger - Organisation and key figures }}</ref>
| num_employees = 8,000 <small>(2021)</small>|
| foundation = {{Start date and age|1980|df=y}}
| location_city = [[Turku]]
| location_country = [[Finland]]
| homepage = [http://www.hesburger.com/ hesburger.com]
}}
[[File:Hesburger in Moscow 1.jpg|thumb|A Hesburger hamburger and fries]]

'''Hesburger''' (colloquially known in Finland as ''Hese'' and in Estonia as ''Hess'') is a [[fast food]] chain based in [[Turku]], Finland.<ref name="Dana 2008 p. 203">{{cite book | last=Dana | first=L.P. | title=Handbook of Research on European Business and Entrepreneurship: Towards a Theory of Internationalization | publisher=Edward Elgar | series=Elgar Original Reference Series | year=2008 | isbn=978-1-84844-130-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsAMhoDSFQwC&pg=PA203 | page=203}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Lonely Planet Finland | publisher=Lonely Planet Publications | series=Travel Guide | year=2015 | isbn=978-1-74360-534-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lJayBwAAQBAJ&pg=PT203 | access-date=26 December 2017 | page=203}}</ref> In 2008 it was the largest [[hamburger restaurant]] [[chain store|chain]] in Finland,<ref name="Dana 2008 p. 203"/> Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with a market share larger than that of U.S.-based rival [[McDonald's]]. It further operates in Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. Hesburger primarily purveys fast foods such as hamburgers, fried potatoes, salads and desserts. The company name is derived from the nickname of the founder, Heikki "Hese" Salmela.<ref name="city">{{cite web|url=http://www.city.fi/artikkeli/Heikki+Salmela/468/ |title=Heikki Salmela |publisher=City.fi |date= 5 April 2002|accessdate=26 December 2017}}</ref> The company also operates ''Hesecafes,'' which sell [[Pastry|pastries]] and [[specialty coffee]]s, and [[hot dog]] outlets.<ref name="Dana 2008 p. 203"/> Some restaurants provide [[car wash]] services.<ref name="SG 2016">{{cite web | title=Coming to Bulgaria: Finnish fast food chain Hesburger | website=The Sofia Globe | date=5 November 2016 | url=http://sofiaglobe.com/2016/11/05/coming-to-bulgaria-finnish-fast-food-chain-hesburger/ | access-date=26 December 2017 | archive-date=11 March 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180311020329/https://sofiaglobe.com/2016/11/05/coming-to-bulgaria-finnish-fast-food-chain-hesburger/ | url-status=dead }}</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Heikki Salmela.jpg|thumb|right|Heikki Salmela, the founder of Hesburger.]]
The chain's history reaches back to 1966,<ref name="SG 2016"/> when 20-year old {{ill|Heikki Salmela|fi}} opened a [[street food]] [[kiosk]] called ''Kievarin grilli'' in [[Naantali]]. He later opened the first Hesburger in the [[Hansakortteli]] shopping centre in 1980 on Kristiinankatu in Turku, which became the first element of the first [[fast food restaurant chain]] in Finland. In the 1980s the chain grew fast. Salmela sold the chain and several hotels in 1988 for almost 200 million [[Finnish markka]]. Three years later, during [[Early 1990s recession in Finland|the early 1990s recession]], he bought it back for 25 million markka.

Salmela has said in an interview that in the beginning, the name of the street his kiosk was located at sufficed for a name for the kiosk. After Salmela had founded his restaurant chain company, it needed a proper name. The name "Hesburger" was suggested, but Salmela thought the name didn't have "an American feel" to it. So he asked an advertisement bureau to come up with a name for his company. The advertisement bureau thought about suitable names for a couple of weeks, and in the end presented Salmela with the name they came up with, along with a bill of 100 thousand markka: "Hesburger".<ref name="city"/>

With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 cities and towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain [[Carrols (Finland)|Carrols]] in 2002. The purchase of Carrols gave Hesburger some previously nonexistent leverage on the fast food market of [[Helsinki]]. Hesburger has kept rival chain McDonald's out of Turku efficiently: in 2014, there were 21 Hesburgers but only two McDonald's locations in the city. Hesburger has also expanded to international markets, opening outlets in the [[Baltic states]] and in [[Hamburg]], [[Germany]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hesburger.com/about-us |archive-url=https://archive.today/20090711124909/http://www.hesburger.com/about-us |url-status=dead |archive-date=11 July 2009 |title=Hesburger – Finland's largest chain of fast food hamburger outlets }}</ref> as well as a single location in [[Alanya]], [[Turkey]] (opened in 2014,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hesburger.fi/hesburger-yrityksena/tiedotteet/ensimmainen-ravintola-turkkiin|title=Hesburger - Ensimmäinen ravintola Turkkiin|website=www.hesburger.fi|accessdate=3 September 2023|language=fi}}</ref> closed unknown date). There was a Hesburger in [[Damascus]], [[Syria]] for a short period between 2004 and 2006, but it was closed as unprofitable.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ksml.fi/uutiset/talous/hesburgerin-laajentuminen-lähi-itään-yskii-pahasti/280008 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120523202728/http://www.ksml.fi/uutiset/talous/hesburgerin-laajentuminen-l%C3%A4hi-it%C3%A4%C3%A4n-yskii-pahasti/280008 |url-status=dead |archive-date=23 May 2012 |title=Keskisuomalainen }}</ref> Further expansion into the [[Middle East]] has been discussed by the company.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.iltalehti.fi/talous/a/200811088560780|title=Hesburger ei ole päässyt Lähi-idässä puusta pitkälle|access-date=18 July 2017|language=fi}}</ref>

Hesburger expanded to [[Poland]] by opening a delivery-only restaurant in [[Warsaw]] in 2024.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.is.fi/taloussanomat/art-2000010303278.html|title=Hesburger laajeni Puolaan – aivan uudella konseptilla | author = Laukkanen, Joona ; STT | work = Ilta-Sanomat | date = 2024-03-19 | accessdate = 2024-04-02|language=fi}}</ref>

In summer of 2024, Hesburger expanded to [[Romania]] by opening its first restaurant in [[Râmnicu Vâlcea]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.mtvuutiset.fi/artikkeli/hesburger-laajensi-toimintaansa-romaniaan/8952942|title=Hesburger laajensi toimintaansa Romaniaan|work=mtvuutiset.fi|date=2024-06-06|accessdate=2024-06-06|language=fi}}</ref>

=== Russia ===
The first attempts to enter the Russian market were made at the end of the 80's. In the summer of 1988 through the joint Soviet-Finnish enterprise in St. Petersburg (and later in [[Vyborg]] and [[Petrozavodsk]]) street tents opened under the '''Liha Polar''' brand  made in the Hesburger color scheme. In the menu was hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and other dishes are typical for Hesburger.<ref name="auto1">{{cite web | url=https://pastvu.com/p/560435 | title=LIHA POLAR первая иностранная сеть общественного питания в СССР }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://historydocs.d3.ru/larek-fastfuda-liha-polar-na-isaakievskoi-ploshchadi-1988-god-leningrad-2082353/?sorting=rating | title=Ларек фастфуда "Liha Polar" на Исаакиевской площади, 1988 год, Ленинград }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://alex-news.ru/poslednie-gody-sssr-kak-zhili-lyudi/ | title=Последние годы СССР: как жили люди | date=29 April 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://foto-history.livejournal.com/16623156.html | title=Первая летчица России }}</ref> In the late 1990s/early 2000s restaurants ceased to exist for unknown reasons.<ref name="auto1"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.vk.com/wall-98221643_338230 | title=LIHA POLAR первая иностранная сеть общественного.. &#124; Питер. Взгляд назад. &#124; VK }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://vk.com/wall-112349057_2574 | title=«СуперБургер» может заменить финскую сеть Hesburger.. &#124; Animation News &#124; VK }}</ref>

The first Russian Hesburger opened in January 2010 in Moscow, and a year later in St. Petersburg.<ref name="auto">{{cite web | url=https://www.rbc.ru/spb_sz/29/03/2022/624303eb9a794774600e9ae5 | title=Еще одна сеть фастфуда закрывает рестораны в Петербурге }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.dp.ru/a/2011/07/13/ASTERA_vivela_na_rinok_Pe | title=ASTERA вывела на рынок Петербурга финскую сеть Hesburger }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.sostav.ru/news/2011/11/15/spr4/ | title=Владельцы мясокомбината «Останкинский» займутся развитием в России сети фаст-фуда Hesburger }}</ref> The network worked on the rights of master franchise LLC Rusburger, owned by the meat-industrial company Ostankino.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1857257 |title=«Велком» разложит мясо по тарелкам |author=Ксения Шамакина |date=2012-01-24 |work=[[Коммерсант]], №11, стр. 10 |publisher= |accessdate=2015-06-28 |archive-date=2015-07-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150701030844/http://www.kommersant.ru/doc/1857257 |url-status=live }}</ref> By the end of 2012, Hesburger still opened 13 restaurants, as well as with the help of partners launched restaurants in Ufa, Krasnoyarsk and in the far East.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.retail.ru/news/ostankinskiy-fast-fud-ili-rusburger-protiv-gamburgera | title="Останкинский» фаст-фуд, или «Русбургер» против «Гамбургера" | date=15 November 2011 }}</ref>

In December 2013, Hesburger changed owners and became a group of companies called "Megagrupp".<ref>https://franshiza.ru/news/read/rossiyskiy_hesburger_smenil_vladelca/ Российский Hesburger сменил владельца<!-- Заголовок добавлен ботом -->]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://franchisinginfo.ru/statya/307/franshizy-cinnabon-auntie-anne-s-i-hesburger | title=Франшизы Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's и Hesburger }}</ref>

On March 29, 2022, Hesburger announced a slow departure from the Russian and Belarusian markets.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://inosmi.ru/20220330/hesburger-253604207.html | title=Hesburger уходит из России медленнее, чем предполагалось | date=30 March 2022 }}</ref><ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.vedomosti.ru/business/news/2022/03/29/915737-finskaya-set-hesburger-zakroet-svoi-restorani-v-rossii-i-belorussii | title=Финская сеть Hesburger закроет свои рестораны в России и Белоруссии }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/5282284 | title=Сеть быстрого питания Hesburger летом закроет свои рестораны в России и Белоруссии | date=29 March 2022 }}</ref> 40 restaurants were available in Russia.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://megagroup.com.ru/hesburger/ | title=Hesburger - «МегаГрупп»|language=ru}}</ref>

In May, a local brand called '''SuperBurger''' was registered with a logo similar to Hesburger's, and intended to replace Hesburger.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://lenoblast.bezformata.com/listnews/finskomu-hesburger-idyot-superburger/105846046/ | title=На смену закрывшемуся финскому Hesburger идёт СуперБургер }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://m.47news.ru/articles/212515/ | title=На смену закрывшемуся финскому Hesburger идёт СуперБургер › Статьи › 47новостей из Ленинградской области }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://crispy.news/2022/05/25/busines/superburger-mozhet-zamenit-finskuju-set-hesburger/ | title=«СуперБургер» может заменить финскую сеть Hesburger &#124; Crispy News/Криспи Ньюс | date=25 May 2022 }}</ref>

Some Hesburger restaurants continued to operate as of April 2023.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://2gis.ru/moscow/firm/70000001020379247|title=Hesburger, кафе быстрого питания, улица Арбат, 22/2 ст4, Москва — 2ГИС|website=2gis.ru|accessdate=3 September 2023|language=ru}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eda.yandex.ru/showcaptcha?cc=1&mt=01ADBE3C29CCE82F9B9F74F57EC06BCFC5DDBD2449FBF69696F4418CD6A1EF2AB39492257BEBFCE9A04B07F0DF49DAD2A9F6CF85615FA59D38327F88DDB17F62AE0A99C484A5D1F5C7284FC5AE69E7D1A179FBB3F2C81CCA3EAF5460CDA4DDCE672938720113CD2A89F7CDD207FA1FAD4801157991861E3981F2&retpath=aHR0cHM6Ly9lZGEueWFuZGV4LnJ1L21vc2Nvdy9yL2hlc2J1cmdlcl9wemR1cT8%2C_0c9afe2f050f30238767a64aadd4b79a&t=2/1693739985/29538c57667231e7db2b827e0b34350a&u=a119ace5-4c687d71-80cf7b6e-98aea3ef&s=8415a5ca83fbd5619bb11da19675ca08|title=Yandex|website=eda.yandex.ru|accessdate=3 September 2023|language=ru}}</ref>

== Restaurants ==
[[File:Hesburger Helsingin yliopiston metroasemalla.JPG|thumb|A modern Hesburger restaurant at [[University of Helsinki metro station]].]]
[[File:Rukkifilee eine.IMG 2605.JPG|thumb|Pork Fillet on [[Rye bread]], French fries and a Coke Zero (regular)]]
Hesburger employs over 8,000 people, of whom 5,400 are based in Finland.<ref>{{cite web|language=fi|url=https://www.hesburger.fi/hesburger-yrityksena/liiketoiminta/organisaatio-ja-tunnusluvut|title=Hesburger - Organisaatio ja tunnusluvut|website=www.hesburger.fi|access-date=18 July 2017}}</ref>
Hesburger has been actively expanding its operations in Lithuania, announcing investments of 3,5 million euros in 2016,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.vz.lt/sektoriai/paslaugos/2016/06/13/prie-moletu-atidarytas-naujas-hesburger|title=Prie Molėtų atidarytas naujas "Hesburger"|first=Sigita|last=Migonytė|publisher=|accessdate=19 July 2018}}</ref> around 4 million in 2017<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.15min.lt/verslas/naujiena/bendroves/hesburger-siemet-lietuvoje-planuoja-investuoti-3-4-mln-euru-ir-atidaryti-iki-4-nauju-restoranu-663-740076|title='Hesburger' šiemet Lietuvoje planuoja investuoti 3–4 mln. eurų ir atidaryti iki 4 naujų restoranų|publisher=|accessdate=19 July 2018}}</ref> and 4 million in 2018.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.vz.lt/paslaugos/2018/02/06/hesburger-i-pletra-lietuvoje-investuos-4-mln-eur|title='Hesburger' į plėtrą Lietuvoje investuos 4 mln. Eur|first=Sigita|last=Migonytė|publisher=|accessdate=19 July 2018}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country !! Number of restaurants<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.hesburger.com/about-hesburger/company/restaurant-chain-today|title=Hesburger - Restaurant chain today|website=www.hesburger.com|accessdate=18 August 2024}}</ref>
|-
| {{flagicon|Finland}} [[Finland]] || 274
|-
| {{flagicon|Lithuania}} [[Lithuania]] || 61
|-
| {{flagicon|Estonia}} [[Estonia]] || 52
|-
| {{flagicon|Latvia}} [[Latvia]] || 51
|-
| {{flagicon|Bulgaria}} [[Bulgaria]] || 31
|-
| {{flagicon|Ukraine}} [[Ukraine]] || 7
|-
| {{flagicon|Romania}} [[Romania]] || 3
|-
| {{flagicon|Germany}} [[Germany]] || 2
|-
| {{flagicon|Poland}} [[Poland]] || 1
|}

==Operations==
* Hesburger hamburger restaurants<ref name="Dana 2008 p. 203"/><ref>{{cite web|date=24 August 2017|url=https://www.talouselama.fi/uutiset/hesburger-vei-burgerinsa-bulgariaan-aikoo-valloittaa-koko-maan/ff87f2ee-7b16-3fb6-94b6-d3a643238f63|title=Hesburger vei burgerinsa Bulgariaan - aikoo valloittaa koko maan|website=[[Talouselämä]]|accessdate=26 December 2017}}</ref>
* Hesecafe – hamburgers, [[List of coffee drinks|coffee drinks]] and [[pastry|pastries]]<ref name="Dana 2008 p. 203"/><ref>{{cite book | last=Clements | first=J. | title=An Armchair Traveller's History of Finland | publisher=Haus Publishing | year=2014 | isbn=978-1-909961-01-2 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p1crDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT64 | access-date=26 December 2017 | page=64}}</ref>
* HeseHotelli – hotels with Hesburger restaurant also acting as the hotel reception<ref>{{cite book | last=Norum | first=R. | title=The Rough Guide to Finland | publisher=Rough Guides | series=Rough Guide to... | year=2010 | isbn=978-1-84836-969-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2jz7B4Pd0ngC&pg=PT246 | access-date=26 December 2017 | page=246}}</ref>
* Hese kotituotteet – retail products
* Hese Nakkari – snack [[kiosk]] products
* Heseautopesu – [[car wash]] services for Hesburger customers<ref name="SG 2016"/>

== See also ==
* [[List of hamburger restaurants]]

== References ==
<references />

== External links ==
* {{Official website|http://www.hesburger.com/}}
* {{commons category-inline}}

[[Category:Fast-food chains of Finland]]
[[Category:Fast-food hamburger restaurants]]
[[Category:Fast-food franchises]]
[[Category:Regional restaurant chains]]
[[Category:Restaurants established in 1966]]
[[Category:Finnish companies established in 1966]]
[[Category:1966 establishments in Finland]]