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. This technique originated in the Great Lakes region at pressed-chuck burger restaurants, and has been a staple there for decades. The method sears the burger for flavor. 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” kenji black bean burger saw it slow its size and expansion plans.
Smashburger was founded in 2007 by two fast food industry veterans. 15 million in capital, the two bought a Denver restaurant, Icon Burger, to experiment with cooking and management techniques for a higher-end burger restaurant. With David Prokupek as CEO and Ryan focusing on developing the menu, the restaurant was designed with quick scalability in mind. Marketing for the restaurants focused on the customizability of the menu, freshness of ingredients, and features to give each restaurant a local feel.
The chain’s first marketing revolved around the tagline “Smash, sizzle, savor. In 2011, as the business was growing at a steady clip, it shifted its theme to “Smashed Fresh. 54 million in annual revenue by the end of 2011. That year, it was reported to have as many as 450 franchise agreements in the books. 4 percent and a 15 percent drop in net income in 2014, the first decline in those figures in 33 years. Growing quickly, Smashburger was by 2013 considered an attractive prospect for an IPO. 35 million debt facility from Golub Capital.
The restaurant faced difficulties in continuing to grow, in part as shoppers began to shift away from shopping in traditional retail centers where its restaurants were concentrated. At the same time, larger restaurant chains increased their efforts to grow sales and brought on higher-quality menu items to compete with Smashburger and restaurants like it. Smashburger uses market research to determine where to open new restaurants, and the restaurant has favored opening new locations next to many major college campuses in the United States, sometimes opening shops directly on campus which are run by concessionaire companies like Compass Group and Aramark. Ryan integrated ambiance, decor and music as a part of a larger customer experience. Restaurants are designed with specific decor, a prominently bright red color scheme, and customer flow. But, the restaurant does not have a model footprint and so each location can be tailored to the available space.
The company has a tailored music soundtrack for restaurants as well. An internal team designed and built the initial soundtracks around the restaurant’s “Smash, sizzle, savor” theme. As Smashburger began to grow, management brought in outside consultants in 2011 to develop a new program for music that would better fit a “modern, high-energy” restaurant concept, though it retains a family-friendly vibe. Bonuses are awarded for certain milestones as well.