Smashburger is challenging fast-casual peers in the better-burger category. Its first restaurant opened in June 2007 at 1120 S. Colorado Blvd. in Glendale, CO and five more came on line in the Denver metro before the year ended. With four more Denver spots in the pipeline, the owners believe it's time to take their show on the road and Texas is a natural next stop.

"We think it's a great market because Texans definitely like their hamburgers," says Ryan McMonagle, Smashburger's CFO. He tells GlobeSt.com that Dallas/Fort Worth and Houston each will start with two "grade A-plus locations" this year and reach eight to 10 before 2009 ends, putting the new chain on "a clear path to 30 over the next three-year period" in each city. The Texas drive will round up San Antonio and Austin in the next wave along with Minneapolis. "We are actively working LOIs in all cities," McMonagle confides, adding the Central Texas cities are being primed for 15 to 20 restaurants each. Orders also are being placed for spots in Kansas City and Wichita, KS.

Interior

"It's a proven genre. While it's relatively new to Dallas, it's being very well received," Hampton says. "We are being very selective." The search is focused on Dallas proper, North Dallas and the Plano-Frisco submarket.

Smashburger's executive team is signing five-year leases for 1,800-sf to 2,200-sf inline and end-cap spots. McMonagle says the must-haves are locations with high visibility, strong daytime populations in a three-mile radius and residential density to seed demand for dinnertime too.