Molly Catalano, a spokesperson for Five Guys, told The Star-Ledger, "Consumers really want a restaurant that is relatively fast, but also high quality and fresh. Our growth has been fueled by demand." The company plans to open five new locations in New Jersey in 2011, bringing its total here to 44 restaurants.
Smashburger recently opened its sixth location in New Jersey inside Newark Airport. Five more are planned to open before the year ends.
Scott Gillman, CEO of Mascott Corp., owner and operator of New Jersey Smashburgers, told The Star-Ledger, "We know there is a great demand for better burgers. We are trying to become the dominant better burger concept in all of northern New Jersey."
While not announcing any plans to open a restaurant in New Jersey, the leading brand of frozen burgers sold in grocery stores, Bubba Burger, is testing the waters closer to its Jacksonville, FL home to see if its own better burger concept may have growth potential.
The company said it is testing four Original Bubba Burger Grills that will sell its complete line of burgers sold in food stores along with a chicken sandwich and and mini hot dog platter.
Billy Morris, president and CEO of Bubba Burger, said in a press release, "Our Bubba fans have been asking us for years to open restaurants where they could get their Bubbas on the go when they were away from home. Our new Bubba burger Grill will feature the great taste, quality and personality that our customers nationwide have come to expect from our famous Bubba burger."
Bubba Burger plans to eventually have grills operating in food courts, airports, college campuses and sports arenas/stadiums in addition to traditional restaurant locations.
Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic, told The Star-Ledger, better burger chains now represent about three percent of the $65 billion in burger sales nationally. Annual growth for the channel is currently running around 25 percent.