Big Smoke Burger, the Toronto-based gourmet burger chain, is expanding on its presence in Canada, which currently includes various cities in the province of Ontario, and will be opening in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The recent deal is a franchised deal for three units in the territory, under franchisee Haley Grewal, who is currently evaluating real estate and plans to be open early 2015.
Big Smoke Burger is a better-burger chain in Canada, owned by restaurant veteran Mustafa Yusuf, whose menu offers open-flame grilled beef, hand-cut fries, traditional Canadian poutine, and healthy protein options like veggie, chicken, and lamb burgers, as well as signature sauces to give burgers distinctive flavors.
“Big Smoke Burger has proven they can work in any market and can adapt to various sites/formats,” Grewal says. “The unique taste from the combination of the beef, toppings and their signature sauces is what really hooked me.”
With a continuingly growing presence in their home market of Canada, where there are five locations open in Toronto, Big Smoke has also expanded to the U.S. with a unit open in Denver and deals signed for New York, Chicago, and Detroit, as well as the Middle East where they just recently opened their third unit, located in Bahrain.
Big Smoke is working with franchise development partner Fransmart, the company responsible for the growth of fast-casual restaurant brands like Five Guys Burgers and Fries and Qdoba Mexican Grill, to boost their expansion. The Vancouver deal was signed through the brokering of Fransmart CEO, Dan Rowe, who, as the founder of Five Guys’ franchise program, has a long history of working with better-burger brands.
