Don Crocker has been involved in a couple of rocket ships before, which might be one of the loftiest understatements possible. Two decades came at Chick-fil-A, starting in the late 1990s. As difficult as it might be to imagine for the third-highest earning restaurant concept in America (only behind McDonald’s and Starbucks), Chick-fil-A was mostly a regional force in those days. Crocker helped it scaled into more than 65 DMAs. He lived in Southern California as Chick-fil-A opened an office to support westward growth, and, from 2009–2016, directed the brand’s new-store pipeline and sat on the leadership team that approved debut locations.
Crocker’s next stop took him to Inspire Brands as SVP of real estate in July 2018 (he’d ultimately be promoted to chief development officer in March 2019). While Inspire began with Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Rusty Taco—not exactly small names—the company did range outward with a startup feel, and at a pace fitting, as it acquired Sonic Drive-In, Jimmy John’s, Dunkin’, and Baskin-Robbins in a two-year window that saw it rise above 31,000 total locations and $30 billion in system sales—making it, as some pundits suggested, the fastest-growing restaurant group on record.
After about six years at Inspire, however, Crocker decided to take a step back and think about something different. He had a young family and wasn’t sure where life might take him. Crocker put his resume out and everything started to move quicker than expected.
He isn’t sure how that moment led him to Smalls Sliders in April, but there’s no question he’s feeling a good jolt of déjà vu these days.
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Crocker, the rising burger chain’s CDO, is often asked about Smalls’ secret sauce. The company announced in March it reached 200 “Cans [an ode to its shopping container builds]” in development, which came just a few months after it hit 100.
To get a sense of the pace, 2019-created Smalls reopened franchising only the previous May and doubled its pipeline within five months.
And now, the company tells QSR magazine, it’s officially reached 300 Cans in the works, with 400 and 500 not too far away.
Crocker understands some of what’s driving Smalls’ interest—compact footprint, big returns, elevated leadership—but some of it remains a bit of a mystery. That’s not a negative spin, he explains. Truthfully, real fandom brands, like Dutch Bros, In-N-Out, Raising Cane’s, to name a few, often appreciate stratified air when it comes to how guests talk about the experience. And it’s not always quantifiable. “Those are the kinds of things they’re saying when they think about this brand,” Crocker says of Smalls.
He adds stepping into the role exposed him to a “extraordinary” story in action. “I think what’s been really interesting is that there’s an allure, an interest, a receptivity across all generations,” Crocker says. “In particular, I think Gen X, Gen Z, Alpha, it just feels like everybody is into Smalls.”
Customers reach out asking for swag and merchandise. They want to put decals on their cars. “And you’re asking yourself the question, ‘why?’” Crocker says. “Building a brand is a total unique animal, right? And I think it’s probably gone faster and gotten bigger than maybe anyone imagined. It’s just something in the fabric of this brand. It connects with people.”
Smalls began to lean into a brand refresh under CEO Maria Rivera in 2023. The former U.S. president of Krispy Kreme, who also clocked roles with TGI Fridays, Logan’s Roadhouse, Darden, and The Walt Disney Company, came into the position in late 2022. Smalls is owned by NFL Hall of Famer Drew Brees and Walk-On’s CEO Brandon Landry. 10 Point Capital joined as owners as well in 2022.
Rivera’s appointment signaled the evolution of an energetic concept into one with serious growth designs.
That brand update included a reimagining of the logo to highlight Smalls hero slider and a color—“Smorange”—that it’s actually trademarked.
Smalls then streamlined operations and pieced together a repeatable model somebody like Crocker could take to market and sell in droves. “There are a lot of hot brands, there always are,” he says. “Some that are growing and growing fast, some that are not, but it’s really just unfathomable how much interest there is in the brand right now. It’s a distinctive, differentiated business model and disruptive in the sense that with modular construction you’ve got speed to market, you’ve got a streamlined menu that’s more straightforward operationally. You’ve got a smaller site, a smaller box, you’ve got really strong four-wall economics.”
“It really hits on all the salient points that franchisees are looking for when they’re contemplating investing their capital,” Crocker adds.
According to its recent FDD, the total investment to begin operation of a Smalls is $1,274,223 to $1,778,006. The size of the builds are about 800 square feet located on a site of about 25,000 to 30,000 square feet. The restaurant building and site work ranges from $814,913 on the low end to $1,212,396.
As mentioned, these roughly 750- to 800-square-foot boxes push major volumes. A store that opened on December 15, 2022, generated gross sales of $2.641 million last year, averaging about $50,000 per week. Of the six units counted, five were above $1 million.
Yet for all its buzz, the reality is Smalls is very much an early inning footprint. The chain had 11 total outlets year-end 2023, up five from the prior year. There was just one Smalls at the start of 2021. Nine of those 11 restaurants were franchised.
But Smalls has 35 projected franchised openings slated for this fiscal year, per its FDD, along with five company-owned stores.
That would balloon the company from 11 venues to somewhere in that 50-unit range. Either way, it’s going to morph from fast-growing to hyper-charged rather quickly, Crocker says. And then, those 300 Cans in development will keep it busy.
On August 1, the chain announced it sold out its initial phase development in six states (Alabama, Arkansas, Kansas, Louisiana, Missouri, and Mississippi). It also developed expansion opportunities in Idaho, Indiana, and Montana.
Again, it did this just about a year after relaunching franchising.
Smalls is active today in 24 states, including those three it just announced. Being “sold out,” though, comes with a caveat of sorts. This is labeled “initial phase” development, Crocker says, because the brand wants to be thoughtful and strategic about how it grows as a franchisor. “We want to be balanced in that approach of making sure that we make the brand available to our demographics in different markets and DMAs,” he says. “So you want to be appropriately aggressive but you don’t want to be overly aggressive. We’re being very thoughtful about how we structure and how we size the area development agreements.”
In other terms, as is true of all brands, initial deployment with store density can evolve as the concept matures.
So it’s hard to picture how big this journey truly gets. What is easy to spot, however, is the cavernous whitespace. Smalls hasn’t made it to the Pacific Northwest or California or Northeast. Those 40 projected openings are in Alabama (two), Arkansas (one), Florida (two), Georgia (five), Kansas (one), Louisiana (nine), Mississippi (one), Missouri (two), Oklahoma (one), South Carolina (four), and Texas (12).
Crocker says there’s “certainly runway” and a pathway to get to 400 and 500 Cans under development in the near-term. It’s about to open its first restaurants in Florida, Arkansas, Texas, Georgia, Missouri, and Kansas, and a couple of other states are coming right behind.
“That’s in the next few months,” he says. “We’ll be making our entry into all those states.”
“The other thing in our industry,” Crocker continues, “is development and building brands and growing brands is very much about momentum in a multitude of ways. The more Cans we open, the more interest there will be. And then it becomes likes a pipeline and a bit of a flywheel, and it likely will accelerate.”
Crocker notes Smalls isn’t focused on quantity or numbers for numbers’ sake. It wants to do this the right way. Yet the company is also cognizant, he says, of the fact its interest is pulsing and consumers respond every place it goes. “We’re going to leverage that momentum. And when all is said and done,” Crocker says, “the goal, of course, is to build something that lasts but something is also very much about growth. That’s fun for everybody to be a part of.”
Smalls’ menu has four combos, from one slider plus fries and a drink to four sliders with the same sides. They can be upgraded to double meat and cheese per slider, two strips of bacon per, and “Smalls Way” fries, which are covered in “Smauce” and queso. There’s also a grilled cheese (two slices of American cheese between buttered toast), three shakes (vanilla, chocolate, and cookie and cream), and that’s pretty much it.
The drive-thru/walk-up model has made Smalls agile in its approach as well. The brand has a saying—”it doesn’t break ground, it drops cans.” So instead of formatting concepts into existing storefronts, like in-line or endcaps, Smalls’ Cans have the ability to change the landscape of communities. They’re bright and modern.
Guests can sit outside in outdoor patios or roll through an expedited drive-thru process that benefits from the simplified flow, which also lends itself to execution.
Crocker says Smalls continues to become more sophisticated in terms of its profile. It’s linking with multi-unit and multi-brand franchisees. “Right now, I think what we’re primarily focused on is building a strong culture in the cans, and at our support center, focused on serving our guests, and supporting our franchisees,” he says. “But we’re also thinking very hard about making sure that we’re providing the right resources and guidance to our franchisees to bolster and empower their success.”
Returning to what drew him to Smalls, Crocker says the more he learned about Rivera and the brand’s prospects, the more it drew him in. “It’s kind of crazy for me personally,” he adds, “because I’ve had a chance to be a part of some extraordinary brands in our industry and you usually don’t get that chance to do it once, much less multiple times. But that’s what’s happening here.”
