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In the chain’s 2009 fiscal fourth quarter earnings call with securities analysts on November 19, Lang said the chain has learned that in the current economic environment, consumers are interested in value and not in a mood for games. The Jack’s Big Rip-Off peel-and-reveal game promotion that Jack launched in August “just wasn’t as compelling as some of the value offerings that we saw by the larger chains and actually the casual dining chains,” Lang said. Lang said Jack was hurt by Burger King’s $1 Double Cheeseburger offer in some markets. Jack’s customer traffic actually dropped during the Big Rip-Off promotion, which was notable mostly for a TV commercial featuring people ripping of their clothes. 

Lang said the difficult balancing act required is to reinforce Jack in the Box’s brand image as a premium-tier QSR and a new-product innovator while also developing value offerings, but doing so without eroding store margins. 

In its fiscal 2010 second quarter (beginning January 2010), Jack “will be launching a new product platform that is a premium product,” Lang said. That could be the Quesadilla Grillers item that this site reported were in test this spring (in Southwest Chicken and Cheesy Chicken varieties). Quesadillas would be a new platform with premium-price potential.

Lang said sales of premium-price items such as the Mini Sirloin burgers and Mini Buffalo Ranch Chicken sandwiches have been steady, as have sales at the low end (including the $1 Big Cheeseburger offered in September and the $3.99 Bonus Jack combo). But the broad middle of the price spectrum has suffered. “We continued to see weakness in our breakfast daypart and mid-tier category, which we attribute primarily to rising unemployment, as well as continued falloff in sales of side items and carbonated beverages, which suggests consumers continued to cut back on discretionary spending,” Lang told analysts.

As a result, Jack will “have some bundled promotions planned for breakfast and we also have a significant upgrade in one of our breakfast products that we think will help rebuild that breakfast business,” said Lang. That upgrade could be for its croissant sandwiches, which don’t seem to have the uniqueness the chain say it wants on the menu.

The chain will shift its advertising from brand-support messages to “more focused” communications on product and price. It also will reallocate media spending so that it can run multiple messages simultaneously. Lang said the brand’s focus “will include premium new products and platforms, price point promotions, breakfast, mid-tier products, and beverage promotions.”

“We will continue with our new-product innovation among premium products, and then we will continue with our promotion, more in the bundled meal promotion where it is more differentiated, offers great value, is unique to Jack in the Box and doesn’t erode our margins.”

In July, CKE Restaurants CEO Andrew Puzder told this site that the sagging economy has resulted in declining combo-meal sales, and he stressed that he wouldn’t mimic competitors’ deep discounting. Now, after reporting a sharp decrease in same-store sales for Carl’s Jr., CKE has a new strategy to boost combo-meal sales and is discounting  its Original Six Dollar Cheeseburger. 

Introducing the $2.49 Big Carl burger in August and challenging McDonald’s Big Mac didn’t make sales jump, but CKE is repeating the tactic, this time with the Quarter Pounder with Cheese as the target. TV spots from Mendelsohn Zien Advertising breaking this week continue the mocking, side-by-side comparison approach used with the Big Carl to tell consumers that the Six Dollar Cheeseburger has nearly twice the meat (100% Black Angus) as the QPC. To seal the deal, CKE now has lowered to $2.79 the price of its Six Dollar Cheeseburger, which had been $3.99.

That’s not as deep a discount as Burger King’s $1 Double Cheeseburger, but it is a shift for CKE, which previously has chosen to create new mid-price menu items rather than discount premium products.

But CKE isn’t just recycling past tactics. CKE has complained about declining combo sales all year, but now thinks it has hit on a new discount/bounceback tactic to reverse that slide. Beginning today, customers who buy any size Big Carl Combo Meal (with fries and drink, priced at $4.49 and up) before Jan. 5, 2010, receive a Rewards Card valued at $1 to $100. To learn its value, customers must present the card at payment for their next Carl’s Jr. meal. Cards can be redeemed by Jan. 25, 2010.

For the four-week period ended Nov. 2, 2009, Carl’s Jr. same-store sales were down 7%, and were off 5.5% year to date. Hardee’s comp sales are down only 0.4% year to date, but don’t be surprised if CKE soon extends the Rewards Card and discounting to Hardee’s (likely comparing the Original Thickburger to the Quarter Pounder).

Although outnumbered by McDonald’s down under, BK/Hungry Jack on Nov. 17 launches the Angry Angus burger to take on the Grand Angus and Mighty Angus burgers unveiled in August by McDonald’s. The trash talking already has begun: “From a flavour point of view, it’s a revolutionary different taste from our competitor,” a Hungry Jack’s spokesman told Australian news outlet NineMSN. “If you’ve tried the other one, wait for this because the proof will be in the eating.”

McDonald’s—which has 785 stores, compared with Hungry Jack’s 327—launched its Angus line with the advertising tagline “It’s a little bit fancy.” TV commercials tout the burgers’ toppings, with one advert specifically promoting McDonald’s long relationship with Australian beef ranchers. That nationalism is tough for Hungry Jack’s to match. McDonald’s also has been airing a 9-part Web series called “Macca’s Chef” that tracks two young crew members’ efforts to learn how to make the Angus burgers and to become McDonald’s chefs. The series ends next week.

Hungry Jack’s Angry Angus burger is topped with bacon, cheese “angry onions,” lettuce tomato, mayo, ketchup and mustard on a corn-dusted bun. The single (AUS $4.95) has approximately 606 calories (2,535 kilojoules), 37.4 grams of fat and 1,594 mg of sodium. By comparison, McDonald’s Grand Angus has 629 calories (2,630 kilojoules), 33.2 grams of fat and 1,140 mg. of sodium.

Burger King sells Angus burgers in many other countries, including the United Kingdom, where McDonald’s has not yet introduced an Angus line. Burger King’s latest UK introduction was the Bacon Caesar Angus burger, which it recently launched with the tagline, “It’s a little bit special.” Some marketers thought that too closely resembles McDonald’s Australian slogan, but it’s indicative of the tough, hand-to-hand combat in which these brands engage globally.

Richard Blais gained notoriety as the faux-hawked favorite on Season 4 of “Top Chef.” Now he’s best known as chef-proprietor of Atlanta’s Flip Burger Boutique, where almost everything—from ossobuco to Korean barbecue to country-fried steak—can be inspiration for a new-age burger on one of the burger world’s most interesting menus.
    But Flip—which opened in December 2008—is only the latest addition to Blais’ culinary curriculum vitae. As with so many others, his career began in his teens at McDonald’s. It also includes a degree from The Culinary Institute of America as well as an internship at Thomas Keller’s The French Laundry and stints in the kitchens of Daniel Boulud’s Daniel and Ferran Adrià’s El Bulli.
    Blais spoke with BurgerBusiness.com about melding all the disparate influences on his style.

Flip is an interesting hybrid: Certainly not your average burger joint, but a burger-based menu that’s not your run of the mill “contemporary American” restaurant either.
From the start we wanted to do something very untraditional. Not a burger bar or a burger joint or fast food. With me and most of the team coming from a more fine-dining background, we came up with the corny phrase that Flip is really “fine dining between two buns.”
    We wanted to create a burger restaurant that could mimic the experience of four people going out to dinner, with one person ordering chicken, and one [wanting] the catch of the day, or whatever. That’s where we started.

What’s the organizing principle for the menu?
We started with two rules. We said that whatever we call a burger has to be ground and it has to be on a bun. But those are really the only two rules.
    With the name Flip—a sort of fun idea of flipping things around—we wanted a menu with half the burgers that resemble traditional burgers and are beefcentric. And then the other side is items that are not beef. That’s vegetables or pork or veal. There are lots of options.

With so few rules, almost anything’s possible. Is that liberating for you as a chef or do you need to continually rein yourself in?
We’re still reining ourselves in. When you make that decision [to break barriers on what's a burger], you have the ability to turn everything into a burger, and certainly we’re creative enough to do that. So we probably have 16 or 18 [burgers] that rotate through the menu everyday. But we’ve probably had 40 to 50 that have made appearances, whether they were popular or not.

Where do the ideas come from?
Sometimes the inspiration is a classic dish like fish and chips. We took some cod and ground it up and that’s going to become a burger. Or maybe it’s fried chicken, or ossobuco or Moroccan lamb, or really anything that has a traditional taste.
    We do have to be cautious about not getting too cheeky in what we want to do and making sure we’re concentrating on deliciousness. Not everything works as a burger, you know?

Have you learned that the hard way?
We’ve never had anything that was a total dog, that doesn’t sell. Sometimes it’s the verbiage [on the menu].

Have you had trouble communicating the idea for your Pâté Melt burger (which includes a veal-and-pork patty with Swiss cheese, cornichons, lingonberries and Dijon mustard)?
That’s one of my favorites because it combines some of my favorite things: French country pâté with a patty melt. To me, it’s clever and certainly delicious. But the term “pâté” opens up a lot of different reactions. Some people think it’s cat food and some think it’s liver and others don’t understand it at all. We learn as much about menu language as we do about flavors.

Did the Pâté Melt sell?
[Flip] Chef Mark Nanno and I probably kept it [on the menu] longer than we should have just because we loved it. We might think it’s brilliant, but if no one wants to buy it, you need to question your brilliance sometimes. We like to say when we pull something that we “put it in the shop.” Sometimes you need to change just a word or two in how you describe something on the menu and not change the item at all.

By offering so many nontraditional burgers, do you see yourself educating the tastebuds of burger lovers?
Looking at the future, I like to think I’m going to have a lot of restaurants that aren’t burgercentric, so I look at Flip as a sort of training ground for a lot of palates. Sort of disguised under this iconic All-American ingredient, the burger, it is a way to get young people to experience lamb or something else they’ve never had before. But they’re much more receptive to it because it’s a burger.
    If I have two teens out on a Friday night date and they decide to order the lamb burger, I’m building clientele for the future. And they’re building their palates.
    I don’t feel like what we do is that creative. We just try to look at things a little differently.

If you can’t change the beef, change the bun. Checker’s/Rally’s this week became the latest restaurant chain to dump a bun in favor of toast by introducing a new Toasted Spicy Queso Melt. The double-patty burger is topped with “crunchy fire sticks,” pepper-Jack cheese slices and cheese sauce. The classic American Toasted Double Melt with American cheese is also available.

Checkers/Rally’s units are promoting the melts at a discount two-for-$4 price, or two-for-$5 with bacon added to both. Individual pricing for the new Toasted Spicy Queso Melt is $2.79 (with prices varying by location). See the TV commercial for the melts here.

Restaurants’ need to continually develop new burgers has led several other chains to get retro with melts. Perkins Restaurant & Bakery recently introduced a Bacon, Egg & Cheese Melt and a Frisco Roast Beef Melt as part of its menu revamp. A Roast Beef Patty Melt is among Arby’s $5.01 Combos, while Western-states family-dining chain Carrows recently added a Pastrami & Swiss Melt to its $6.99 Bargain Lunch menu.

On Sept. 30, McDonald’s in Australia (where it’s known as Macca’s) launched “Macca’s Chef,” a 9-episode, weekly online series that airs during the popular “Celebrity MasterChef” program. McDonald’s series is a parody of chef competitions, following two restaurant trainees—Steve and Chris—and their chef/mentor Jean-Pierre as the guys learn to properly cook the new Mighty Angus burgers. One of the young fellows will earn the Macca’s Chef title.

Whose cuisine reigns supreme? Well, it hasn’t aired in Australia yet, but the final episode is here to enjoy. If you watch, don’t spoil it for your friends down under, eh?

Five years ago, Russ Klein began a presentation to the Harvard Business School with a slide that read, “When they know you more than love you.”

Burger King Corp. announced today that Klein (left) has resigned as president for global marketing strategy and innovation, effective on Dec. 15, 2009. And it can be argued that the brand for which Klein has been steward for more than six years is, indeed, better known than loved. Interbrand this year ranked it 93^rd on its list of Best Global Brands, describing Burger King as “becoming the nonconformist’s fast food of choice.”

Actually, it’s more true that BK is already there (and may, in fact, have been passed by Carl’s Jr.) when it comes to nontraditional marketing. But during his tenure, Russ Klein worked hard and successfully to keep vanilla off the BK marketing menu. The brand has taken chances. Mini burgers didn’t fly when Burger King tried Burger Buddies several years ago, but Klein brazenly revived the idea as Burger Shots with better results (for breakfast and dinner). The Facebook gambit—offering a Whopper to those who un-friended 10 Facebook pals—was the sort of audacious tactic, Klein has relished. It made some folks (including Facebook) angry and was cancelled, but it got talked about.

The plastic-head King character was weird/edgy enough before it started to go off the tracks  this year. The kids-targeted SpongeBob SquarePants TV spot was poorly considered, making the King look like a leering danger to all children. And then there was a series of overseas marketing blunders: The Texican Whopper campaign in Spain that insulted Mexicans (including a Mexican diplomat) and another that thoughtlessly used religious symbols (right) and insulted Hindus. BK’s ads introducing the Angus Caesar burger in the UK employ a tagline only one word removed from the exact phrase McDonald’s had used for its Angus burger campaign in Australia. Franchisees reportedly made known their displeasure and frustration with the brand’s series of stupid black eyes and with primary ad agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky.
In the U.S. there was the pointless, place-holding Whopper campaign featuring Nascar driver Tony Stewart. When Stewart took a polygraph test—”live”—to prove that he truly loves the Whoppers he endorses, not even Burger King cared enough to talk it up. Most recently, we saw one of the oddest promotional tactics ever when Burger King announced…three weeks in advance..that it was going to drop the price of the Double Cheeseburger nationally to $1. Not starting today or tomorrow; three weeks from now. And this after it already had discounted the sandwich in 40 markets.

By then Russ Klein had taken a leave of absence from Burger King, but the Double Cheeseburger fiasco suggested that  the chain’s marketing programs were in disarray.

Klein cited personal reasons for his departure, saying in a statement that it is “time to write the next chapter of my life.” Peter Robinson, formerly president of Burger King’s Europe, Middle East and Africa business segment will oversee global marketing on an interim basis while Chairman-CEO John Chidsey seeks a new marketing chief in time for the February 2010 roll out of the XT (extra thick) burgers and new broilers that will determine the brand’s success for the next several years.

Good morning! Here’s what to watch for today:

► Wendy’s today launches yet another element in its “When it’s real” campaign, this one self-contained on Twitter. “The Hunt for the Biggest Bacon Fan” invites consumers to follow Wendy’s UrBaconMeCrazy site and send tweets that include the hashtag “#bacon.” Doing so earns points; the person with the most points by Nov. 20 wins $2,000 in cash.

► Krystal today rolls out the Wild & Crispy Big Angus Burger, a bigger version of its Crispy Onion Krystal burger. Crispy onions also top the Mighty Joe, a sloppy joe with cheese that Krystal has in test markets.

► Dunkin’ Donuts 99-cent breakfast menu debuts in Chicago today. The 6-item menu includes a sausage, egg and cheese tortilla wrap not available at Dunkin’ units elsewhere.

McDonald’s reportedly will expand nationally the “Mix from Six” $1 breakfast menu it has been testing in Chicago. Meanwhile, Canton, Mass.-based Dunkin’ Donuts—one of the breakfast category’s toughest players—is bringing its own broadened 99-cent value menu into Chicago next week.

In separate articles, the Chicago Tribune reported that McDonald’s plans to go national in January 2010 with the morning value menu that lowers to $1 the prices for six breakfast foods, including the Sausage Biscuit, Fruit ‘n Yogurt Parfait (left), two pancakes and others. That promotion was introduced to Chicago in August.

McDonald’s move may have been a reaction to Dunkin’ Donuts, which in June introduced its 99-cent Wake Up Wrap as part of a new “Breakfast NOT Brokefast” campaign (via Hill Holliday). Starting Monday, Nov. 9, Dunkin’ will introduce its own 6-item $1 menu in Chicago, the Tribune reports. In addition to the Wake Up Wrap (a 5-inch tortilla with scrambled egg and American cheese), the menu includes hash browns, raspberry Danish and a 5-pack of its signature Munchkins. All are 99 cents.

Wendy’s, which introduced a breakfast menu to several hundred stores but pulled it when sales disappointed, now says it expects to reintroduce a morning meal by the end of 2011, later than earlier predictions. President-CEO Roland Smith this week told analysts that its breakfast menu has been completely revamped. The chain “will take this new lineup and we will begin to reintroduce it into our three test markets early next year,” Smith said. “We will read those results. We will expand it from there and then ultimately our plan is to be prepared for a national launch by the end of 2011.” Kansas City, Mo.; Pittsburgh and Phoenix are Wendy’s test markets.

By year-end, Wendy’s will add a new “value offering” to its menu, according to Smith.

Often it takes a tragedy to make two parties’ feud seem trivial and bring them back together. For Red Robin Gourmet Burger and television advertising, that sad situation is the very challenging business environment that has severely depressed the casual-dining chain’s sales.

Reversing a very public breakup earlier this year, when it dismissed TV advertising as expensive and ineffective, Red Robin this week told analysts that a 10-market test of local TV buys yielded significant ROI. That was the good news during a quarterly earnings call during which Red Robin had to report some dismal numbers: restaurant revenue down 10.4% for the quarter ended Oct. 4, 2009; same-store sales at company units down 14.9%; guest counts down 13.8%; average guest check off 1.1%. Yikes.

The quarter included only the first few weeks of sales for Red Robin’s Wise Guy Burger and Chicken Caprese sandwich, two high-profile limited-time menu offerings with suggested menu prices of $9.49.

But in 10 company-store markets (representing 100 units, or about one-third of company-owned locations), TV spots promoted the LTOs at a special $5.99 price point. Minneapolis-based Periscope, named agency of record in August, created the TV spots, which ran with higher media weight than Red Robin used in the second quarter for local TV spots backing steak sliders.

SVP-Chief Marketing Officer Susan Lintonsmith told analysts that for the four weeks prior to the TV test, guest counts in the 10 test markets were off 11.4% from the previous year. The three weeks of TV brought an increase in traffic of 1,200 basis points, moving it into the black.

Similarly, sales in the 10 markets were down a disturbing 12.4% vs. prior year during the four weeks preceding the TV test. The heavy local buy yielded an improvement of 900 basis points, Lintonsmith said. “We believe the TV ads paid for themselves,” she said. Both the Wise Guy and Caprese items were among the top 3 sellers in all 10 markets.

The Wise Guy/Caprese promotion ends Nov. 8, and Red Robin has no major new menu additions planned until February 2010, but Lintonsmith says TV, both local and national, will be “important parts” of Red Robin LTO marketing next year.

In markets that did not get the $5.99 TV campaign, Red Robin distributed $3-off coupons for the two LTOs. Direct mail, “endorsement radio” and online marketing also will be used in 2010. Through year-end, Red Robin will promote gift cards and expand the Red Royalty guest-loyalty program that it began testing in July of this year.

What we’ve learned: However tasty, applewood-smoked bacon isn’t powerful enough to counter this recession’s downward suction.

How we know that: Same-store sales for company-owned Wendy’s units declined 4% in October despite the $75 million launch of the “You know when it’s real” ad campaign and the Bacon Deluxe cheeseburger.

What happens now: Wendy’s may want to accelerate plans to introduce the Baja Wrap and BBQ Smokehouse Wrap that it has in test markets and that sources say have been well received by consumers. Execs say that by year-end Wendy’s will relaunch the Baconator burger (with the new bacon) and will introduce an unspecified “new value offering.”

Wendy’s/Arby’s Group reported third-quarter results today, and they aren’t bad. A $14.7 million profit sure beats a net loss of $12.1 million a year ago. But the sales numbers don’t reflect the strong turnaround momentum it no doubt hoped to see. Wendy’s North America systemwide same-store sales decreased only 0.1%. Take away the impact of discontinued breakfast sales at 300 locations and those comp sales would be +0.1%. Anything on the happy side of 0 is an achievement in this economy (ask CKE Restaurants). And company-store margin increased to 16.5% for the quarter from 12.5%.

October comp sales are down, but executives are staying positive there, too. “Sales mix for the Bacon Deluxe Cheeseburger has been encouraging, and we believe same-store sales will improve from October,” President-CEO Roland Smith said in a statement. “As we approach 2010, we have a full pipeline of new premium and value products in various test phases across the Wendy’s system, and we are focused on regaining our leadership position in product innovation and driving sales growth.”

The $4.29 wraps certainly are important to that innovation strategy. But Wendy’s will need to gear up burgers, beyond the Baconator, with Burger King already announcing that it will roll the 7-ounce XT (extra thick) burgers in February 2010, when its new batch broilers are in place. BK has promised the burgers will be “game changers.”

The company also announced formation of the Quality Supply Chain Co-op, a national buying co-operative for Wendy’s and its franchisees. It will manage food and related-product purchases and distribution services in the U.S. and Canada.

The news was even more bleak for Wendy’s sibling Arby’s, whose ersatz-burger Roastburger sandwiches haven’t moved the sales needle nearly as well as it hoped. For the third quarter, Arby’s North American company store sales dropped 6.5%; comp sales at franchised units declined 10.2%. Smith says Arby’s “$5.01 Combo Meal” promotion “has already generated substantial sales mix and it provides a platform to build transactions through increased frequency.” That sounds like the combos are accounting for a large share of sales, but are not yet bringing in incremental sales, doesn’t it?

October sales for Arby’s “have further softened,” the company says. Further? As in worse than -10.2%? Time for some big, new ideas—not fake burgers—for this brand.

There are more than just pinot noir grapes growing in Oregon. Cranberries, too, are part of the state’s agricultural bounty and Burgerville makes good use of local crops for November limited-time seasonal specials that join its menu today.

Cranberries from the Farr and McKenzie family farms in Port Orford, Ore., are blended with jalapeños to create a salsa that accompanies Burgerville’s $4.59 turkey burger special ($7.59 as a basket). Cranberries from Meduri Farms in the state’s Willamette Valley find a place in this month’s Cranberry Walnut Tart, priced at $2.49 at the Vancouver, Wash.-based chain.

There’s a side dish, too. Sweet Cranberry Bourbon Baked Beans combine Kentucky Bourbon beans and kidney beans with northern white beans, which then are slow-cooked with cranberries  and sliced onion. As an à la carte side, the beans are priced at $2.19. With a combo basket, add 69 cents.

Some interesting numbers and insights you might have missed:

► NPD reports that total foodservice spending declined 1.6% in the summer quarter ended in August. Discounts were about the only thing to which consumers responded: Deal-related restaurant visits increased 2%; non-deal traffic dipped 5%. More than half the increase in discounting came from casual-dining chains.

► Technomic’s research finds that guest traffic decreased 6.1% in September. Business is especially tough for chain restaurants, which declined by 6.6%, while independent restaurants showed a 5.7% decrease. Average check price has decreased 5.5%, with chain restaurants declining only 4.4% compared with independents, down 6.4%.

► We’re not alone in this. Nielsen says its Global Consumer Confidence Index jumped 9 points from 77 index points in April to 86 in October. But even though most consumers are feeling better about the economy, they remain cautious about spending their money.

► Consumers are most cautious on Tuesday, according to Gallup. They spend $55 on that day, compared with $76 on Saturdays. Plan promotions accordingly.

► Yet despite the cautiousness and the downright bad news, Entrepreneur magazine says now is the time to open a restaurant.

First came the unsettling news of “Gordon Ramsay, At Your Service,” a stop-action-animation series in the works with Chef Ramsay tooling about on a motorcycle and sidecar borrowed from the Two Fat Ladies. Now we’re told Travel Channel next year will give us the animated  “Anthony Bourdain’s Alternate Universe.” Judging by the trailer for the six-part Web series, it’s like a Tim Burton remake of Scooby Doo.

So who’s next? Who will be the next chef or culinary personality who’ll be converted to cartoonery? Food Network’s Alton Brown and Brit Chef Jamie Oliver are out of the running because they are already quite animated enough. So we offer five possibilities (six if you consider Bryan and Michael Voltaggio, above, separately, as they no doubt would like us to do).

In 2007, Tom Ryan and partners purchased a Denver burger joint, rebranding it Smashburger for the way fresh hamburger is smashed on its hot griddle. More than three dozen locations have followed and the company says it has sold franchisee agreements that will open more than 200 over the next five years. Smashburger is the first concept Ryan (right) has developed from scratch but he’s no stranger to restaurants, having been chief marketing officer for Quiznos; U.S. chief marketing officer/SVP-menu management for McDonald’s (he gave the world McGriddles); and SVP-business development for Long John Silver’s after beginning his career in several marketing posts at Pizza Hut. He talked to BurgerBusiness.com about keeping the brand localized while growing nationally.
     To read Ryan’s answers to the famous “10 Burger Questions” and of his respect for Waffle House, jump here. But come back, OK?

Burgers are crazy popular, and you’ve had a hand in that—now and in the past. But they may be more popular than ever. Why do you think that is?
I think there are a variety of reasons. The most obvious is that in this economy burgers have tremendous appeal. Burgers have always been Americans’ favorite food. They have tremendous utility, meaning almost everybody likes them. They’re cost effective and at the same time they trigger all the right human responses: They taste good; you feel good when you eat them; they’re communal. But from an economic landscape point, they fit because of the tremendous value they have. 

Where’s Smashburger’s place in that taste and price landscape?
We think there has been a growing space that Smashburger was designed to capture. The folks in the tier below us, the true fast-food guys, have a tremendous amount of distribution power, but they really haven’t focused on burgers in a long time. They’ve been focused on diversifying their menus with chicken and salads and breakfast. And coffee. Really, if you think of the last 10 years, there hasn’t been a whole lot of innovation around burgers coming out of that [quick-service] arena.
     Conversely, the folks in the tier above us were built on the old-school paradigm of full table service, a $10 to $15 a person average check and a 45-minute-to-an-hour experience. Smashburger was designed to give a great-tasting $5 burger with cool sides and stuff in a 22-minute time experience in a place that’s differentiated from the guys above and below us. An $8 check average and 22 minutes in a cool, modern place: that’s the energy. That’s the space Smashburger was designed to fill.

How much did you have that Smashburger business model in mind when you bought the Icon Burger restaurant and rebranded it?
Buying Icon Burger was just a starting point. We fully intended to morph it into something greater than it was. There’s not much left of Icon except the location.

 But how much of the business model you envisioned is what you put in place?
Almost all of it. We’ve made some changes, but we understood the consumer landscape very well before we started. We kept it in mind as we went through designing the size of the restaurant, the dayparts, what the food and service needed to be and what the menu variety needed to be.
     We did some overkill as often happens with new concepts. We had a breakfast daypart originally that we quickly jettisoned [because] we didn’t know how strong we would be at dinner. We’re 50/50 lunch and dinner now and we were pleasantly surprised by the level of dinner business that the [Smashburger] concept actually generates.

But breakfast is hot; other concepts are adding it. Have you considered bringing it back?
Most of those doing breakfast have drive-thrus and we don’t. We have a breakfast daypart that fits the brand that we’ll likely apply at nontraditional locations that require three dayparts. But it was the right decision to [drop breakfast and] cater to burger lovers.  Click here to continue reading Smashburger’s Tom Ryan: Menu Locally, Grow Nationally