Smash Burger
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| Private | |
| Genre | Fast casual restaurant |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Founder | Rick Schaden & Tom Ryan |
| Headquarters | Denver, Colorado, United States |
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Number of locations
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370 (2018) |
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Area served
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Key people
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Tom Ryan CEO |
| Products | Hamburgers, Chicken Sandwiches, Salads, French Fries, Shakes, Soft Drinks |
| Revenue | $338.3 million (2016) |
| Parent | Jollibee Foods Corporation |
| Website | smashburger.com |
Smashburger is an American fast-casual hamburger restaurant chain founded in Denver, Colorado. As of February 2018, it has more than 370 corporate and franchise-owned restaurants in 37 states and 9 countries.
Founded in 2007 by restaurant industry veterans Rick Schaden and Tom Ryan, the chain serves "smashed" burgers using a specialized process of cooking them on a flattop grill at a high heat. The technique sears them and locks in fat and juices. These are then topped with a number of different kinds of ingredients and can be customized. Additionally, the chain also offers unique burgers in each city where its restaurants are located. The menu also includes chicken, turkey and portobello sandwiches as well as french fries, sweet potato fries, fried pickles and other items.
The restaurant saw rapid growth after its first location opened in 2007 and it added several hundred locations within a few years, though a larger slowdown of the "better burger" industry saw it slow its size and expansion plans. Company leaders initially considered an IPO, but Philippine-based quick-service operator Jollibee Foods Corporation bought a 40 percent stake in the company in 2015, at which time it was valued at $335 million. Jollibee subsequently became majority owner taking an 85 percent share of the chain in 2018.
Smashburger was founded in 2007 by two fast food industry veterans. Tom Ryan had previously helped to develop the stuffed crust pizza concept for Pizza Hut and later served as chief concept officer for McDonald's, and David Prokupek was a former owner of Quiznos. The two launched the venture with private equity firm Consumer Capital Partners. The restaurant was envisioned to highlight a higher market for hamburgers, as a part of a wave of "better burger" restaurants including Shake Shack, which uses similar techniques. It adopted the name Smashburger, Ryan later said, because the name "had this really great hand-crafted connotation, which we do. It also kind of had this organic, earthy, commonly popular approach, and it had a little edginess to it, for younger, generational people." Ryan has a background in food science and studied cooking techniques extensively.
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Wikipedia