Shake Shack, the Danny Meyer founded burger chain, which grew out of a hot dog stand in New York’s Madison Square Park, has filed for an initial public offering that could be worth as much as $1bn (£643m).
The company, which will list early next year on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker: SHAK) said that the proposed IPO has a nominal fundraising target of $100m.
It reported that income fell 20% to $3.55m in the 39 weeks to 24 September compared to a year earlier. Revenue increased 41% to $83.7m.
Shake Shack currently operates 63 outlets and believes it can grow to 450 outlets in the US alone over time.
In the US, the company plans to open 10 new company-operated stores each year starting in 2015, and expects it could grow from 31 company-operated stores to 450 over the long-term.
Outside the US, the group has 20 stores in the Middle East, four in Turkey, two in Russia and one in the UK. Earlier this month, M&C Report revealed that the brand would open its second UK site next year as it finally begins its long-awaited rollout over here.
It will open on the high street by Westfield Stratford shopping centre in April.
Shake Shack UK, which is operated by Diverse Dining, the company set up by Meyer and Shake Shack CEO Randy Garutti to operate the UK business, has so far had a slow start in the UK, with just the one site operating in Covent Garden, which it opened in summer 2013. Nigel Sherwood, business director of Shake Shack UK, admits that expansion has been slower than anticipated and its debut site, split across a number of different areas in the piazza, had proved challenging from both an operational and branding perspective. However, the launch of a more traditional Shake Shack restaurant will kick start expansion, he says.
“Ideally we would have had seven or eight Shake Shacks open by now. And, in hindsight, Covent Garden would have been our fifth or sixth opening, but we can’t knock it. We are ready to grow the brand now and Westfield Stratford City will be the springboard for us in the UK.”
London will be Shake Shack’s heartland, with it looking to open a handful of sites in the capital by 2018
The concept was founded more than a decade ago to help support the restoration of Manhattan’s Madison Square Park.
