For 25 years, Denise Nelsen climbed the ranks of Starbucks until she was leading the brand in the United States for the last five. Now, she’s transitioning to the fast-casual space with Smashburger, a brand with fewer units but an established franchise system and room for growth.
Nelsen joined the better burger company in January and assumed the CEO role in March. She hit the ground running, too, with her sights set on developing the brand’s strategy for the next several years.
“We want to strongly position where we stand in the market,” Nelsen said. “I think that for a variety of different reasons, partly the coronavirus, decisions were made that maybe slowed that down. So, we’re working on our blueprint, both domestically and internationally, for both company-owned and franchised units, to see what our growth will be over the next five years.”
Smashburger CEO Denise Nelsen
Founded in 2007, Smashburger has a combined 235 company-owned and franchise restaurants across 34 states and seven countries. Growing the brand beyond that number will be a familiar exercise for Nelsen, as she joined Starbucks when the coffee brand had about 500 stores. Today, the chain has more than 38,000 units worldwide.
After graduating from Purdue University Northwest in Indiana, the Chicago native started at Starbucks. At the time, the chain was just beginning to really scale up.
“I was there through a lot of different seasons,” Nelsen said. “There were times of incredible growth and times of turnaround. I had a variety of different goals to accomplish over that time in both the company-owned locations and our licensed portfolio, in operations and supporting roles along the way.”
Nelsen said she gained a great deal of experience in her 25 years at Starbucks, leading functional operations and supporting global initiatives. It was, however, time for a change, and as fate would have it, Smashburger parent company Jollibee Food Corp. reached out.
Nelsen said she was impressed by the culture, values and growth aspirations at Jollibee.
“As I went through the process, I saw this opportunity could be the one I’m looking for,” she said. “It’s a great time to be part of JFC and especially Smashburger. We’re excited about what we’re setting up to do.”
Smashburger’s initial investment ranges from $1.17 million to $2.18 million. The brand closed seven stores last year, four of which were franchised, and it closed another two franchised units in 2022.
An important thing to do immediately, Nelsen said, is get the word out about the brand’s burgers to more people.
“We need to take ownership of Smashburger, of the brand and the incredible quality of our products,” Nelsen said. “We’ve made some menu extensions in the past, and I think that’s taken the focus off of what we’re known for, which are the incredible burgers and relevant sides. We want to get back to focusing on that, and really building the brand awareness about our quality.”
CEO Denise Nelsen said Smashburger needs to take ownership of the quality of its products.
Nelsen said Smashburger must take the necessary steps to be a world-class franchisor.
“We need to provide an incredible level of support for the people we’re partnering with around the world,” Nelsen said. “Starbucks wasn’t a franchise system, but we did have licensed locations and joint-venture partnerships. I learned that in some ways, that can be a key enabler of growth, while also having the opportunity to have local relationships and knowledge of markets.”
To get started on that front, Nelsen said she held a series of one-on-one meetings early on with franchisees to hear their feedback. She said their input and the ongoing relationship between franchisee and franchisor is a highlight of her new position.
“I’m excited to be part of a franchise organization and continue to think about our expansion because it’s such an excellent opportunity for our partners,” Nelsen said. “We need to really keep thinking through the support we’re providing as we grow larger in scale, because we want consistency in terms of the Smashburger experience for owners.”
That growth could push the better burger concept to surpass 400 units, Nelsen said.
“I do think we have the opportunity to more than double our number and do it in a very purposeful way,” Nelsen said. “To intentionally target markets where we understand our customers and talking with existing franchisees about their aspirations and where we can better support them, too.”