3 Smashburger Franchises on a Roll

Photo/Smashburger website

SAN ANTONIO (Blue MauMau) - SB Alamo Development, LLC, has signed a franchise agreement with Smashburger, a gourmet hamburger chain, to develop 45 stores in eight years. Those locations will be in San Antonio, Austin, West Texas and New Mexico. The first unit in San Antonio, Texas will be launched no later than April.

Lawrence Harris, CEO of franchise SB Alamo, declares, “We are thrilled to be in on the ground floor with the next biggest success in the restaurant industry, and we look forward to bringing Texas and New Mexico the best burger they’ve ever tasted.”

Smashburger is a start-up franchise concept that is affiliated with private equity firm Consumer Capital Partners, developers of Quiznos. Rick Schaden, founder of Quiznos, is a board member of CCP. Serving gourmet burgers, the start-up franchise chain touts itself as "The best burgers you ever tasted Fresh, never frozen Certified Angus Beef".

“It is a testament to the Smashburger management team and the strong partnership that exists with CCP that 105 franchise locations have signed on within a period of about three months,” said David Prokupek, Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Consumer Capital Partners. “We know that corporate growth will take us only so far in our quest to be the top ‘better burger’ in the country, which is why partnerships with quality franchisees like SB Alamo are critical. The talent, experience and reputation of Larry, Allen and Jason, adds further validity to the Smashburger model and will undoubtedly be a benefit in attracting additional quality franchise and joint venture partners in the future.”

The development roll-out  of Smashburger is markedly different than the small mom & pop single-unit franchise owners of Quiznos.  Headquartered in Denver, the firm first started developing a few company-owned restaurants and then signed two large franchise agreements to commit the franchisees to open 60 franchises. Where Quiznos shops are run by owners who typically have not been restaurateurs, Smashburger wants franchise owners with at least 5 years of managing 10 restaurants or more.

SB Alamo Development is Smashburger's third franchise, bringing a total promise to develop 105 future locations for the franchisor. The chain plans to expand to 30-60 locations by the end of 2009 and ultimately to grow to 500 quick service restaurants in 30 markets.