Marketing

BurgerFi ramps up growth via 3 channels

Provided

July 7, 2021

After going public in December 2020 and being named FastCasual's 2021 Brand of the Year, BurgerFi International Inc. is expanding its presence through three channels:

Adding brick-and-mortar restaurants.
Increasing ghost kitchens.
Rolling out the Fi on the Fly food truck.

"We're starting to see the impact of the infusion of capital from going public with 25 signed leases in different stages of development, including nine new restaurants currently under construction," Ophir Sternberg, executive chairman, said in a press release. "We opened two new company restaurants last week alone in Jupiter, Florida, and Williamsburg, Virginia, and we have a large number of new restaurant openings planned for Q3 and Q4 as part of our new restaurant growth plans for the year."

Over the past decade, BurgerFi has opened restaurants throughout the country but is now implementing a cluster market strategy primarily focused on increasing its penetration in its core Southeast markets and working up the eastern seaboard.

"Cities like Jacksonville, Orlando, Nashville, Tampa, Miami and others along the eastern seaboard are where we'll focus most of our growth with new company and franchise restaurants," CEO Julio Ramirez said in the release. "We'll capitalize on synergies knowing that additional restaurants allow us to grow brand awareness, reach new guests, convert them to loyal 'Fi-natics' and increase our average unit volumes."

Ghost kitchen expansion
As the entire industry grappled with the pandemic that created a surge in off-premise business, BurgerFi rolled out its first ghost kitchens via companies like Reef Kitchens and Epic Kitchens to quickly expand into new areas with limited investment.

The business has grown over the last year leading to a significant expansion in 2021, partnering with Reef Kitchens to open an additional 15-20 units in the second half of 2021. The units will be focused primarily in BurgerFi cluster markets, Henry Gonzalez, CMO of BurgerFi, said in the release.

"We're excited to expand our relationship with Reef Kitchens, which allows us to extend our reach in a fast, flexible and cost-effective manner," he said." Our growth will be focused on our cluster markets, like Atlanta, Nashville and Miami to name a few, as a way to grow our brand awareness, affinity and seed the brand for future brick-and-mortar development."

Fi on the Fly
Unveiled in May 2021, the better-burger concept has taken its award-winning favorites on the road with "Fi on the Fly" to cater parties, corporate events, charitable fundraisers, birthdays, weddings, cultural and sporting events, musical festivals, food truck events and more throughout the South Florida area.

"Whether it's through our physical locations, ghost kitchens or our awesome new Fi on the Fly food truck, these are all tools to connect with our guests, however, whenever and wherever they want to engage with us to have the best burger experience," Gonzalez said.

Established in 2011, BurgerFi has about 120 locations domestically and internationally.