2019 was another great year for BurgerBusters. Sales were up over 14%, exceeding $225 million, our operations scores were the best we have ever had, and we have continued to develop new stores at one of the strongest rates in the country. BurgerBusters currently operates 167 businesses in 151 locations and has over 4,000 employees. All of these factors led to BurgerBusters receiving its highest ranking ever on the Restaurant Franchise Monitor’s Top 200 Franchisees list, number 49. After starting with a single store in Harrisonburg, VA 33 years ago, it is quite remarkable to have reached this point today.
2020 has provided an “interesting” last few months to say the least. Medical and economic difficulties have made the start to this year uniquely challenging for everyone across the globe. I have a great sense of pride in, but am not the least bit surprised about, our company’s ability to navigate the current tumultuous business environment. I would like to extend my deepest thanks to all of our truly dedicated employees, who I feel are unmatched throughout the Taco Bell system. It is due to your herculean efforts that we have been able to manage through this challenging and ever-changing way of doing business. As a result, BurgerBusters is ready to come out of this situation healthy and resilient. I appreciate everyone coming to work every morning, providing food for our customers, hope for our brands, and stability for BurgerBusters and all of our individual families.
Typically, I like to show you the results that come from your hard work, our continued expansion and development. While the current climate has slowed this down some, we have completed several projects and still have several more on the horizon. Since the last Newsletter, BurgerBusters has developed and opened two new Taco Bell restaurants (Unit No. 35063 Front Royal, VA and Unit No. 35999 Edenton, NC) and fully-remodeled two existing restaurants (Unit No. 4796 Galax, VA and Unit No. 5241 Winston-Salem, NC). There were several minor projects that were also completed: one midterm remodel (Unit No. 34832 Salem, VA) and two cooler / freezer projects (Unit No. 4714 Staunton, VA and Unit No. 33517 Newport News, VA). Currently, BurgerBusters has two new restaurants under construction (Dublin, VA, an offset to a freestanding location from an existing power pumper location, and Lake of the Woods / Locust Grove, VA) along with one major remodel (Unit No. 15737 Winston-Salem, NC) and one midterm remodel (Unit No. 34016 Nags Head, NC). While we have pushed back several projects into 2021, in the near future, we will have three new restaurants under construction (Southern Shores, NC; Hagerstown, MD; and Winston-Salem, NC) and several special projects. I want to give a special thanks to Don and his team. As you can see, while we have scaled back from our previous development numbers, BurgerBusters continues to add to and refresh its assets at a strong rate.
BurgerBusters continues to show strength during these trying times and I wanted to highlight a few positive stories. In partnership with KFC Corporate, BurgerBusters has donated meals to essential workers like medical personnel, firefighters, and police in various areas to thank them for all their efforts during this pandemic. A special thank you to our teams that helped coordinate these feedings. It was recently announced that BurgerBusters had an employee who is a college student, India Johnson, receive a Live Más Scholarship from the Taco Bell Foundation to further her education. Join me in congratulating India on her well-deserved honor, a testament to her hard work in the restaurant and in the classroom. Bruce Jackson, a longtime BurgerBusters employee, recently retired as the Manager of our POS Department. Bruce is one of the employees that helped make BurgerBusters the company that it is today, through his work in our restaurants, first on the management side and then in creating a whole new department to help service our stores’ POS needs as we grew from a handful of stores to 150+ today. While he will be missed at BurgerBusters, Bruce has earned his well-deserved rest and we are grateful to his contributions to the company.
I have written about many positive items here and none of them would be possible without the BurgerBusters Senior Team: COO Joe Mangano, CFO Greg Rowland, and Director of Human Resources Kirk Jester. Each of them has gone above and beyond during this crisis to ensure that BurgerBusters and its employees are in as good a situation as possible. Their commitment to their jobs and this company are second to none and I am extremely appreciative of their contributions.
In closing, I would like to thank each of you one last time for everything you have been doing, are doing, and will be doing for this company as we continue to push forward. I cannot predict the future to tell you the worst is behind us or how soon things will get better. What I can tell you, though, is that if BurgerBusters keeps demonstrating the same fight and spirit, nothing can slow us down and we will continue to grow and prosper. Be safe, be healthy, and be strong.
By: Tassos Paphites
Chairman/CEO
