American burger chain Shake Shack filed for an initial public offering of up to $100m at the US Securities and Exchange Commission Monday.
Rumors of an IPO of the popular New York City-based fast-food restaurant had been floating around since August. The chain, owned by Union Square Hospitality Group (USHG), would go up on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker name SHAK.
The filing reveals impressive growth in revenues at the chain – from $19.5m in 2010 to $82.5m in 2013. Shake Shack has expanded rapidly in the last four years, growing from seven stores in the US in 2010 to 63 stores in nine countries at the time of its IPO filing.
JP Morgan Securities and Morgan Stanley & Co are acting as joint lead book-running managers in the offering, while Barclays Capital Inc, Goldman, Sachs & Co, and Jefferies LLC, William Blair & Company LLC and Stifel are co-managers.
The chain started as a single hot-dog cart established by Randy Garutti, in 2001 to support New York City’s Madison Square Park rejuvenation campaign. Garutti, then director of operations of the parent company, USHG, ran the business from the kitchens of Eleven Madison Park, one of the company’s more high-end establishments.
The cart’s popularity and hour-long lines prompted USHG to propose a kiosk-style, no-tables restaurant. Danny Meyer, the famous restauranteur who owns USHG, designed the first location. The original Shake Shack was set up in 2004 in the same park, and went on to become a popular tourist attraction in New York City.
Garutti has stayed on as CEO of the chain, taking its trademark business – burgers, hot dogs, crinkle-cut fries and shakes – international. The company has attempted to replicate its New York strategy of setting up shop in busy, popular areas of high footfall and “commercial densities” in locations like London’s Covent Garden and Dubai’s Mall of the Emirates.
