A View From The Top

How Smashburger president remains 'pandemic positive'

Carl Bachmann, president at Smashburger, discusses how the brand's commitment to culinary innovation has contributed to continued double-digit sales growth

Carl Bachmann, president at Smashburger, said the phrase "pandemic positive" reflects his belief that unprecedented change also brings opportunity. Provided

November 17, 2021

By Carl Bachmann, president at Smashburger

In the last year and a half, the pandemic has forced the restaurant industry to drastically evolve because of ever-changing dining regulations, supply chain disruptions and labor shortages. As a result of this challenging industry landscape, many restaurants have limited their menus or have been hesitant to release new products. Smashburger on the other hand, has continued its commitment to culinary innovation, starting at the onset of the pandemic.

Coining the phrase "pandemic positive" reflected my belief that unprecedented change also brings opportunity. For example, the lack of dine-in due to COVID-19 lockdowns proved to be successful for Smashburger, as it meant we no longer had to compete in the crowded real estate landscape, and it leveled the playing field for our food-first brand among competitors. It gave consumers the opportunity to evaluate brands on their products and their service, giving Smashburger the opportunity to steal market share by executing at a higher level with a higher quality product.

At Smashburger, the most important aspect of our brand is the taste and quality of our products. We built our company around being a chef-inspired better burger brand with the best tasting and highest caliber products. Opening a total of 12 new stores in 2021, Smashburger delivers a bold, memorable, and relatable taste through our obsession with the culinary process of burger creation. Our new restaurant prototypes even have an emphasis on food cues with an open kitchen concept so guests can see the culinary process as they order their food.

We want to be the best burger restaurant for the next generation of burger lovers. Delivering this requires everything the Smashburger brand stands for: restaurant-quality presentations for an elevated burger experience, an exceptional "smashing" culinary technique, modern, inspired curated recipes, and menu variety that satisfies virtually all occasions and situations. Despite the uncertainty around COVID-19, at Smashburger we took an aggressive approach to leaning into menu innovation.

In the beginning of the pandemic, we decided to move forward with our planned launch of a new blockbuster product, the Smoked Bacon Brisket Burger. Smashburger wanted to offer a premium culinary forward menu option with trending flavors and toppings, such as smoked brisket. This was the first premium, meat on meat burger Smashburger launched in years and given the premium ingredients, it's $3 more than typical core menu burger offerings.
Despite the closure of dining rooms amid the pandemic, the new menu item made up seven percent of total sales when it was first released and generated one of the highest single-day promotion sales numbers. Even a year later the Smoked Bacon Brisket Burger is the third best seller on our menu.

We've seen that many guests crave different flavors and options, making LTOs successful among today's consumers. According to Technomic, over the past five years, 64% of the top 500 restaurant and retail chains increased their limited-time menu items, and at Smashburger we were no different.

Smashburger jumps into the middle of the so-called QSR Chicken Sandwich Wars with its Scorchin' Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich. Provided

Earlier this year, Smashburger released a new premium product, the Scorchin' Hot Crispy Chicken Sandwich, and it sold out in 35 restaurants only two weeks after launch, which was surprising for a burger brand. We have seen significant growth in the chicken category since the release of this premium sandwich, with a 30 percent increase in traffic during launch week and the corresponding BOGO deal being our best performing promotion so far this year. Most recently,

Smashburger collaborated with national brands like General Mills and Ghirardelli to release limited-time milkshake flavors this past summer, including Cinnamon Toast Crunch Churro and Ultimate Chocolate Chip made with Ghirardelli.

Currently, we have launched all day breakfast menu items in about 60 locations so far. We're continuing to see our commitment to menu innovation pay off, rolling out menu testing for several new items, such as Chicken Tenders, Scorchin' Hot Chicken Tenders, as well as Passion Fruit and Strawberry Lemonades in the Houston and Long Island markets.

We've found that the innovation pipeline continues to be very incremental to both sales and profits, seeing a significant increase in customer traffic surrounding our recently released menu items. As a result of Smashburger's approach to moving forward with elevated menu offerings, during a time when many restaurants were slowing down, we were able to substantially exceed growth plans, projecting to end the year with a significant YTD double digit sales increase.

In addition to the sales increases, we've utilized culinary innovation to improve our core menu offerings, with the goal that several of our LTOs will eventually become permanent menu items. I believe that never being complacent is a key ingredient to long-term menu success. In a competitive landscape where brands are in a race to win over guests, we'll continue to elevate our offerings and leverage consumer insights to prioritize Smashburger's aggressive menu innovation into 2022, with an emphasis on taste and quality.

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