Shake Shack opens 1st Canadian location in Toronto
CBC
If you fancy a burger and crinkle-cut fries, U.S. fast-casual joint Shake Shack is dipping a toe into the Canadian market — but its success could depend on customers willing to fork out higher prices.
The chain is starting with a lone Toronto location, which opens Thursday, with plans to expand across Canada with 35 locations by 2025.
"Canada's been on our radar for about eight years or so," said Michael Kark, president of global licensing at Shake Shack, in an interview with CBC News.
He noted that Shake Shack first tested Canadian waters in 2017 with a pop-up, but said the chain was taking its time with an entry here until it found the right local partners. Toronto-based businesses, like chocolatier ChocoSol and bakery Brodflour, are among its local suppliers.
"We didn't want to follow those who have come in and treated [Canada] like the 51st state," he said.
The company was initially conceived in New York in 2001 as a high-end hot dog cart before it opened its first restaurant in 2010. It now has over 500 locations worldwide.
There's no denying that Shake Shack is selling a slightly pricier burger — its signature ShackBurger goes for $8.49, or $12.49 for a double patty.
Kark said the higher costs are in part due to Shake Shack sourcing some of its ingredients locally. That also makes it stand out from other chains — it's "more like a fine-dining restaurant than a quick-serve restaurant."
The company will serve a handful of items unique to its Toronto location, like a maple salted pretzel shake, and it will also diverge from other fast-casual joints by serving Ontario wine and local beer from Toronto-based Bellwoods Brewery.
"We think that we can deliver an experience," said Kark.
Canada has been a hot ticket for premium casual restaurants like Blaze Pizza, Chick-fil-A, Chipotle and now Shake Shack, according to Robert Carter, an industry analyst with the StratonHunter Group.
Restaurants in that quick-service category represent about $40 billion to $50 billion of the $90-billion restaurant market in Canada, which is otherwise dominated by major fast-food chains like McDonald's.
"In times of economic uncertainty, there's some shifting going on," said Carter. "Maybe people aren't going out to the higher-end restaurants as much, but the quick service does quite well."
Still, Canada has seen some colossal failures.
