Hesburger
 |
|
| Industry | Restaurants |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1966 |
| Headquarters | Turku, Finland |
|
Key people
|
Kari Salmela CEO |
| Products |
Fast food (hamburgers • french fries • soft drinks • coffee • milkshakes • salads • desserts) |
| Revenue | €260 million (2013) |
|
Number of employees
|
6000 (2013) |
| Website | www.hesburger.com |
Hesburger (colloquially known in Finland as Hese and in Estonian as Hess) is a fast-food chain based in Turku, Finland. Today, it is the largest hamburger restaurant chain in Finland - with a larger presence in the Finnish market than U.S. company rival, McDonald's.
The company name comes from the nickname of the founder, Heikki "Hese" Salmela.
The chain's history reaches back to 1966, when Heikki Salmela (born 1946) opened a street food kiosk in Naantali. He later opened the first Hesburger in 1980 in Turku, which became the first element of the first fast food restaurant chain in Finland. In the 1980s the chain grew fast. Salmela sold the chain and several hotels in 1988 for almost 200 million Finnish markkas. Three years later, during the recession, he bought it back for 25 million.
With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain Carrols in 2002. Hesburger has also expanded to international markets, opening outlets in the Baltic states and Germany. There was a Hesburger in Damascus, Syria for a short period between 2004 and 2006, but it was closed as unprofitable.
Hesburger has 281 restaurants in Finland, 46 in Lithuania, 45 in Latvia, 42 in Estonia, 33 in Russia, three in Germany, three in Ukraine, one in Belarus and one in Bulgaria. Hesburger continues with attempts to penetrate the Middle East markets, via contracts with local companies.
...
Wikipedia