How to Start a Smashburger Franchise in 7 Steps: Checklist

The current official Smashburger franchise inquiry page asks prospects to confirm that they have met $360,000 net worth and $300,000 assets. The page does not say whether those figures apply per person, per ownership group, or per development commitment, and the 2026 FDD does not restate them as contractual minimums. Treat them as current website screening fields and verify how Smashburger applies them to your proposed deal.

The formal Franchise Application is broader. The applicant, the proposed franchise entity, and each owner must submit requested information. The application authorizes background, investigative-consumer-report, and credit checks and asks for business experience, financial statements, assets and liabilities, litigation and bankruptcy history, ownership interests, restaurant-industry involvement, and time commitment. It does not disclose a minimum credit score or require U.S. citizenship; it asks non-U.S. applicants to state the basis on which they are authorized to own or work in a U.S. business.

For a multi-unit developer, Smashburger says it considers relevant business experience, financial resources, the geographic market, and other then-current criteria. An entity must name a natural-person Managing Owner with at least 25% ownership and voting power; the Managing Owner must supervise multi-unit development and operations full time. For a single Restaurant, the owner or Managing Owner controls the business, although Smashburger may approve a full-time Designated Manager who meets its conditions.

The Franchise Agreement requires compliance with System Standards for development and opening and written approval of the opening date. The franchisee must complete approved construction, obtain the applicable governmental approvals, install required Operating Assets and Technology Systems, maintain required insurance, and satisfy training requirements. The FDD also requires at least $10,000 of grand-opening marketing; for the first three Smashburger Restaurants, that program includes retaining a franchisor-approved local public-relations firm for three months.

Training is a distinct gate. The FDD describes approximately six weeks of initial training and up to four Mandatory Trainees without an additional training fee, with travel, living expenses, wages, and workers' compensation borne by the franchisee. All Mandatory Trainees must complete training to Smashburger's satisfaction. For a third or subsequent Restaurant, the FDD says initial training is not automatically provided; additional training may be requested or required at then-current charges. Grand-opening support also changes: the first two Restaurants receive a training team at no additional cost, while the third and later Restaurants receive a lead trainer and may require reimbursable additional trainer costs.

These are contract consequences, not a promise that extensions will be granted. The 2026 FDD does not disclose a general automatic extension right for a delayed new Restaurant. Multi-unit buyers should treat the Development Schedule as a separate contractual obligation from the typical 6-10 month single-Restaurant planning period.

Ask Smashburger to identify which current format and agreement set applies to the proposed transaction and to confirm the exact sequence for site approval, Franchise Agreement execution, and lease execution. For multi-unit development, verify the Development Area designation, whether it is non-exclusive or conditionally protected, the unit count, each Development Period, and the first-unit signing requirement. A Development Area is not the same as an exclusive territory, and the individual Franchise Agreement itself grants no exclusive territory.

Confirm who must attend training for the specific unit number, whether the Restaurant is the first, second, or third-plus unit for training purposes, and what must be complete before on-site training begins. Reconcile the opening deadline with the landlord's delivery date, permitting assumptions, construction contract, equipment lead times, and certificate-of-occupancy process; those third-party durations are not supplied as a universal timetable in the FDD.

Use Item 20 and Exhibits F and G to contact current and former franchisees about actual approval, lease-review, buildout, training, and opening experiences. For the federal disclosure stage, the FTC Franchise Rule and the FTC's Amended Franchise Rule FAQs explain the 14-calendar-day pre-sale disclosure period and the separate rule for certain material unilateral agreement changes. State registration, disclosure, and addendum requirements may also affect a specific transaction and should be checked with the applicable regulator and qualified counsel.