Happy Belly Food Group Inc., a leading consolidator of emerging food brands, has secured a location for its smash burger brand Rosie’s Burgers, located at 1542 Avenue Road in Toronto.
Rosie’s Burgers is a boutique quick serve restaurant brand serving original recipe smash burgers, poutine, onion rings, milkshakes and more.
“The Rosie’s brand continues to expand across Canada, and today’s announcement highlights our ability to secure AAA locations for our emerging brands,” said Sean Black, Chief Executive Officer of Happy Belly.
“With multiple locations now in construction and more on the way for 2025 we are about to realize significant growth thanks to our ability to open corporate stores as well as franchise locations in parallel paths.
“This location will be opened and operated corporately which is the second planned corporate Rosie’s location for 2025 along side our recently secured Shops of Don Mills location as we look to reinvest the free cash-flow back into the brand to deliver accelerated growth.
“When we acquired Rosie’s less than a year ago, the brand was operating just two locations in the GTA and had no franchising program in place. Today, Rosie’s has grown to four operational locations across two provinces, with an additional 12 locations either corporate-owned, assigned to franchisees, or under construction. This remarkable growth trajectory demonstrates the strength of the brand, and we have no plans of slowing down.”
The company said the new location is ideally situated in North Toronto’s affluent Avenue & Lawrence neighborhood, and set to open in Q2 2025.
“It is expected to expand Rosie’s customer base in a densely populated area that aligns with the brand’s target demographics, offering significant opportunities both in-store and through delivery. Toronto’s impressive growth and support for homegrown businesses make it an ideal market for expanding our brands. With its thriving food culture and vibrant dining scene, the city’s growing population and enthusiasm for emerging food brands create strong demand for Rosie’s delicious burger offerings,” it said in a news release, adding that its overarching strategy has always been to focus on the development and growth of emerging brands within the food sector.
“We currently have 421 contractually committed retail locations from area developers across all emerging brands in the Happy Belly Portfolio – whether in development, under construction, or already open. As we open new stores, the Happy Belly footprint continues to grow. Our team is committed to sourcing and evaluating real estate, reviewing franchisee applications, and collaborating closely with area developers to support our asset-light franchising model. At present, several of our restaurant brands are simultaneously under construction, and we are excited to announce openings throughout 2024-2025. By focusing on securing high-quality franchisees and prime real estate locations across Canada, we will further strengthen our expansion efforts,” said Black.
Related Retail Insider stories:
I guess we haven’t hit peak smash burger yet.