Burger Madness: Canadian and American Burger Chains Compete for Canuck’s Tastebuds

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It’s Friday night at two-month-old Five Guys Burgers and Fries in Toronto’s tony Leaside area, and the joint is hopping. Janis Joplin’s ragged voice fills the bright white-tiled restaurant as a server at the order counter calls “heads-up” to the red and white-clad guys and gals manning the long open kitchen, and calls out: “Five at the door! Three at the door! Six patties!” Customers munch on roasted in-shell peanuts and read framed reviews from Boston and Florida while watching their Angus beef patties being seared, turned, pressed thin and left to finish cooking on a hot griddle. Meet the U.S. version of the better burger — coming to a Canadian city near you.

U.S. Burger Chains Move North

In terms of sales, California-based Fatburger and Virginia-based Five Guys have flipped onto a ranking of Canada’s top 200 chains and 10 fastest-growing limited-service rest-aurants, according to Chicago-based research company Technomic, Inc; they’re joined by Toronto’s South St. Burger Co. and Hero Cert-ified Burgers. “The better-burger category exploded in the U.S. and is now making inroads to Canada,” says Kelly Weikel, Tech-nomic’s senior consumer research manager.

Fatburger began its Canadian tour in Vancouver and now stretches as far east as Prince Albert, Sask. Like its fellow Amer-icans, the chain promises a never-frozen “fresh-pressed” burger made from AAA Alberta beef, stacked with fresh-cut toppings on an “artisan” bun. It also sells turkey and vegetarian burgers, but the company notes Canada’s favourite signature Fatburger is the Double MC ($8.99), featuring two Angus patties, double cheese, special sauce and all the fixings. The list of sides is long but includes fresh-cooked fries ($2.99), yam fries ($4.99), chili cheese fries ($5.99) and poutine (5.99).

And, from seven Canadian units in 2010 — the first in Medicine Hat, Alta., — Five Guys ended 2012 with more than 40 units in six provinces, says Jason Huang, GM of the Leaside restaurant, owned by Five Star North America, one of Five Guys’ Canadian master franchisors.

The Five Guys’ concept is simple, says Huang. “Focus on one or two things, do them extremely well and people will come.” That translates into a fresh handmade patty, cooked to order, and fresh-cut fries, pre-blanched and cooked in peanut oil — a regular $3.99 serving feeds two. Complimentary house-prepared toppings range from chopped green peppers to grilled onions chosen from a list upon ordering. Five Guys sells a basic double-patty Hamburger ($6.99; plus $1 for cheese or bacon and $2 for a bacon cheeseburger) and a single-patty Little Hamburger (starts at $5.19). Vegetarians can order a grilled-cheese sandwich ($3.99) or a Veggie Sandwich ($3.19) with a mix of toppings on Five Guys’ proprietary bun.

Smashburger, another fast-growing U.S. burger chain, opened its first restaurant in Denver in 2007 and now has approximately 190 U.S. stores. Its first two Canadian units, both corporate, opened in Calgary in 2012 and are performing well, says chairman and CEO, Dave Prokupek. “Revenues are very strong, probably 50 per cent better than our U.S. average out of the box.” Smashburger just signed its first franchise partner in Edmonton, and Prokupek plans to open 10 to 15 units in Alberta before heading east toward Toronto.

Prokupek says Canada’s strong economy makes crossing the border appealing. Technomic’s findings are similar. Its 2012 Top 200 Canadian chain restaurant report shows the emerging fast-casual burger segment satisfies the niche between fast food and casual dining and has yet to be saturated by major U.S. players such as Five Guys. “Fast-casual restaurants are perceived as offering fresher, higher-quality foods in a more comfortable atmosphere than traditional QSR chains, while also providing a lower price point than full-service restaurants,” says Weikel.

Since Smashburger restaurants feature local touches, creating the menu for the chain’s first Canadian restaurants in Calgary wasn’t a stretch, says Prokupek. The Calgary Burger ($6.99) is a ball of certified Angus ground beef smashed to a patty on a buttered 400˚F griddle then topped with grilled onions, pepper-jack cheese, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, tomato and Dijon mayo on a kaiser roll. “In the U.S., our classic burger [topped with American cheese, ketchup, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickles and smash sauce on an egg bun, for $5.99] is usually number 1, with the regional burger in second place,” he says. “Calgary is the first market where the regional burger is number 1.” Popular toppings on the Create-Your-Own Burger ($5.24) include bacon, fresh avocado, guacamole and a fried egg.

Poutine ($3.99) was an obvious choice for a Canadian side, Prokupek adds. It’s described as a heritage recipe made from fries, “actual” cheese curds and poutine gravy, while a second version is topped with garlic sautéed mushrooms. Regular Smashfries ($2.49) are tossed with rosemary, olive oil and garlic. Calgarians can wash down their burger with a local craft beer from Big Rock Brewery or a popular “hand-spun” Saskatoon Berry shake made with MacKay’s ice cream from Cochrane, Alta. Orders are delivered to the table within five minutes.

Stayin’ Alive (and well) on the North Side

So far, Canadian burger chains show no signs of quaking in their buns as American chains pop up across the street. Dave Colebrook, VP, Marketing, for Canadian veteran Harvey’s, a division of Cara Operations Ltd., says there’s no question burgers are hot. “Canadian burger sales are up about five per cent in the past year,” he says, adding that while U.S. chains have increased competitiveness within the market, overall, new burger restos are sustaining market growth.

In fact, chains from both countries are on the same aggressive expansion path. Relish Gourmet Burgers from New Brunswick is spreading its wings across the Maritimes and south into Maine with weekly features such as burgers topped with jalapeños, hot sauce, back bacon and pepperjack cheese. Vancouver-based Vera’s Burger Shack, another chain on Canada’s Top 200 list, began as a beach concession stand in 1997 and now boasts more than a dozen locations in B.C.’s lower mainland and Ottawa. Vera’s signature six-ounce patty ($6.99), served slightly pink, consistently wins Best Burger awards in local publications. The fries are double-cooked, and fans say Vera’s special sauce is “so good you want to drink it.”

Meanwhile, Harvey’s built approximately 30 Canadian restaurants in 2012, says Colebrook, moving east and west from its primary base in Ontario and Quebec. What sets Canada’s fifth largest burger chain apart from U.S. upstarts, he says, is its char-boiled burger cooked on a 600˚F open-flame grill. “We’re not only Canadian, but we offer something similar to a backyard barbecue experience,” he says. A garnish station of fresh toppings, allowing fans to customize their burger on the spot, is another idea that hasn’t taken off in the U.S., he says.

The chain’s Original burger ($3.99) is just as beloved now as it was when Harvey’s opened in 1959, says Colebrook. While the recent Bacon Bacon burger was a big hit, the pulled-pork-topped burger preceding it was the chain’s “highest-ever” scoring food item. “People who ate it absolutely loved it,” he says.

Toronto’s South St. Burger Co. opened its first store in 2005. Like Harvey’s, its cooks know their way around a grill, says president Jay Gould, who just opened his 20th restaurant in Calgary (the city’s third) and his first in Dubai. “Unlike almost all the American chains, we use a char-broiler instead of a griddle,” says Gould. “When we had our patties tested on both and sent them to a lab, we found the griddle adds an extra 10 per cent-plus in calories and fat.”

Fresh Canadian premium beef patties, real cheese — cheddar and swiss from the brick are most popular — pulled-pork poutine and an “endless” supply of fresh toppings also distinguish South St. from U.S. better burger chains, says Gould. He recently added a gluten-free bun, and says the New York Fries he pioneered are cooked in trans fat-free sunflower oil. Sales are great, he says, with an average check of $10 to $12 a meal.

While he keeps an eye on the new Five Guys down the road in Leaside, and waits for Smashburger, Fatburger and maybe even Carl’s Jr., from California to show up, along with homegrown chains and the 11 other U.S. concepts BurgerBusiness.com recently identified as up-and-coming, Gould says his competition with them is more in terms of real estate. “I don’t think Five Guys wants to set up right beside us, and we don’t want to set up right beside them,” he says. “The reality is good real estate is hard to find, and there are at least a few of us looking for the same place.” The real meat of the matter is in the food — and each brand has its trademark.

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