Smashburger returns to expansion trail with Cambridge opening

The group has taken over the former Chosen Bun site on Hills Road in Cambridge for its eighth UK opening in the UK.

As with the group’s other restaurants, the new site serves the brand’s range of ‘signature beef’ smash burgers, whereby the patties are ‘smashed’ on to a hot buttered grill.

A range of chicken burgers, sides and loaded fries also features.

Smashburger’s return to the expansion trail follows an extended period of stasis for the US brand, which opened its first UK restaurant in Milton Keynes back in May 2016.

Initially, the group expanded quickly​​, establishing a further seven openings across the UK by the end of 2017 with sites in Brighton, Bath, Newcastle, Glasgow, Wednesbury, Dunfermline and Inverness.

At the time group said it hoped to have 35 sites across UK by the end of 2020.

However, its expansion subsequently stalled and in the intervening year Smashburger has failed to open any more sites in the UK.

Its estate eventually contracted with the closure of its Inverness restaurant.

The group’s return to the expansion trail now could be considered reflective of the wider smash burger trend currently dominating the UK market, which has manifested most notably in London​​ with recent openings such as Supra Burger, SMSH BN, and Supernova.

Smashburger is operated in the UK by MSG Group, one of the largest Domino’s franchise businesses in the UK, which is led by Moonpal Grewal