Hesburger

Finnish fast food chain

Hesburger

A Hesburger restaurant in Šeškinė, Vilnius, Lithuania

Company type| Joint-stock company
Industry| Restaurants
Founded| 1980; 45 years ago (1980)
Founder| Heikki Salmela
Headquarters|

Turku

Finland

Number of locations

| 473

Area served

| Finland
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Bulgaria
Ukraine
Romania
Poland
Germany

Key people

| Heikki Salmela (Chairman)
Kari Salmela (CEO)
Products| Fast food
(hamburgers • french fries • soft drinks • coffee • milkshakes • salads • desserts)
Revenue| €234 million (2021)[1]

Number of employees

| 8,000 (2021)
Website| hesburger.com

Hesburger (colloquially known in Finland as Hese and in Estonia as Hess) is a fast food chain based in Turku, Finland.[2][3] In 2008 it was the largest hamburger restaurant chain in Finland,[2] Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, with a market share larger than that of U.S.-based rival McDonald's. It further operates in Bulgaria, Germany, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine. Hesburger primarily purveys fast foods such as hamburgers, fried potatoes, salads and desserts. The company name is derived from the nickname of the founder, Heikki "Hese" Salmela.[4]

The company also operates Hesecafes, which sell pastries and specialty coffees, and hot dog outlets.[2] Some restaurants provide car wash services.[5]

## History

[edit]

Heikki Salmela, the founder of Hesburger.

The chain's history reaches back to 1966,[5] when 20-year old Heikki Salmela opened a street food kiosk called Kievarin grilli in Naantali. He later opened the first Hesburger in the Hansakortteli shopping centre in 1980 on Kristiinankatu 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 markka. Three years later, during the early 1990s recession, he bought it back for 25 million markka.

Salmela has said in an interview that in the beginning, the name of the street his kiosk was located at sufficed for a name for the kiosk. After Salmela had founded his restaurant chain company, it needed a proper name. The name "Hesburger" was suggested, but Salmela thought the name didn't have "an American feel" to it. So he asked an advertisement bureau to come up with a name for his company. The advertisement bureau thought about suitable names for a couple of weeks, and in the end presented Salmela with the name they came up with, along with a bill of 100 thousand markka: "Hesburger".[4]

With only 12 outlets in 1992, Hesburger expanded to over 200 restaurants in 60 cities and towns across Finland over the following decade, absorbing rival chain Carrols in 2002. The purchase of Carrols gave Hesburger some previously nonexistent leverage on the fast food market of Helsinki. Hesburger has kept rival chain McDonald's out of Turku efficiently: in 2014, there were 21 Hesburgers but only two McDonald's locations in the city. Hesburger has also expanded to international markets, opening outlets in the Baltic states and in Hamburg, Germany,[6] as well as a single location in Alanya, Turkey (opened in 2014,[7] closed unknown date). There was a Hesburger in Damascus, Syria for a short period between 2004 and 2006, but it was closed as unprofitable.[8] Further expansion into the Middle East has been discussed by the company.[9]

Hesburger expanded to Poland by opening a delivery-only restaurant in Warsaw in 2024.[10]

In summer of 2024, Hesburger expanded to Romania by opening its first restaurant in Râmnicu Vâlcea.[11]

### Russia

[edit]

The first attempts to enter the Russian market were made at the end of the 80's. In the summer of 1988 through the joint Soviet-Finnish enterprise in St. Petersburg (and later in Vyborg and Petrozavodsk) street tents opened under the Liha Polar brand made in the Hesburger color scheme. In the menu was hamburgers, cheeseburgers, fries and other dishes are typical for Hesburger.[12][13][14][15] In the late 1990s/early 2000s restaurants ceased to exist for unknown reasons.[12][16][17]

The first Russian Hesburger opened in January 2010 in Moscow, and a year later in St. Petersburg.[18][19][20] The network worked on the rights of master franchise LLC Rusburger, owned by the meat-industrial company Ostankino.[21] By the end of 2012, Hesburger still opened 13 restaurants, as well as with the help of partners launched restaurants in Ufa, Krasnoyarsk and in the far East.[22]

In December 2013, Hesburger changed owners and became a group of companies called "Megagrupp".[23][24]

On March 29, 2022, Hesburger announced a slow departure from the Russian and Belarusian markets.[25][18][26][27] 40 restaurants were available in Russia.[28]

In May, a local brand called SuperBurger was registered with a logo similar to Hesburger's, and intended to replace Hesburger.[29][30][31]

Some Hesburger restaurants continued to operate as of April 2023.[32][33]

## Restaurants

[edit]

Hesburger restaurant in Oulu A modern Hesburger restaurant at University of Helsinki metro station.

Hesburger employs over 8,000 people, of whom 5,400 are based in Finland.[34] Hesburger has been actively expanding its operations in Lithuania, announcing investments of 3,5 million euros in 2016,[35] around 4 million in 2017[36] and 4 million in 2018.[37]

Country | Number of restaurants[38]

|

Finland | 274
Lithuania | 61
Estonia | 52
Latvia | 51
Bulgaria | 31
Ukraine | 7
Romania | 6
Germany | 2
Poland | 1

## Operations

[edit]

* Hesburger hamburger restaurants[2][39]
* Hesecafe – hamburgers, coffee drinks and pastries[2][40]
* HeseHotelli – hotels with Hesburger restaurant also acting as the hotel reception[41]
* Hese kotituotteet – retail products
* Hese Nakkari – snack kiosk products
* Heseautopesu – car wash services for Hesburger customers[5]
* Döner HeseKebab & Gyros - sells Döner Kebabs and Gyros
* HesePark - a skate park in Turku

* Hesburger hamburger and fries

* Hesburger burger

* Pork Fillet on Rye bread, French fries and a Coke Zero (regular)

* Kebab hamburger meal

* Chicken wings

## Reception

[edit]

Hesburger's burgers have gained recognition worldwide, thanks to tourism, among other things. In January 2025, Natasha Lovell-Smith of Yahoo! Life listed the "41 greatest fast food burgers of all time", with Hesburger's Double Burger ranked 18th.[42] In July 2025, popular American YouTube star Darren Jason Watkins Jr., also known as IShowSpeed, visited Finland during his European tour, where, after tasting a Hesburger burger, he said in a live broadcast that he "haven't tasted such a good burger in all of Europe."[43][44][45]

## See also

[edit]

* List of hamburger restaurants

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Hesburger - Organisation and key figures".
2. ^ a b c d e Dana, L.P. (2008). Handbook of Research on European Business and Entrepreneurship: Towards a Theory of Internationalization. Elgar Original Reference Series. Edward Elgar. p. 203\. ISBN 978-1-84844-130-9.
3. ^ Lonely Planet Finland. Travel Guide. Lonely Planet Publications. 2015. p. 203\. ISBN 978-1-74360-534-9. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
4. ^ a b "Heikki Salmela". City.fi. 5 April 2002. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
5. ^ a b c "Coming to Bulgaria: Finnish fast food chain Hesburger". The Sofia Globe. 5 November 2016. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
6. ^ "Hesburger – Finland's largest chain of fast food hamburger outlets". Archived from the original on 11 July 2009.
7. ^ "Hesburger - Ensimmäinen ravintola Turkkiin". www.hesburger.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 3 September 2023.
8. ^ "Keskisuomalainen". Archived from the original on 23 May 2012.
9. ^ "Hesburger ei ole päässyt Lähi-idässä puusta pitkälle" (in Finnish). Retrieved 18 July 2017.
10. ^ Laukkanen, Joona ; STT (19 March 2024). "Hesburger laajeni Puolaan – aivan uudella konseptilla". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 2 April 2024.`{{cite web}}`: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
11. ^ "Hesburger laajensi toimintaansa Romaniaan". mtvuutiset.fi (in Finnish). 6 June 2024. Retrieved 6 June 2024.
12. ^ a b "LIHA POLAR первая иностранная сеть общественного питания в СССР".
13. ^ "Ларек фастфуда "Liha Polar" на Исаакиевской площади, 1988 год, Ленинград".
14. ^ "Последние годы СССР: как жили люди". 29 April 2019.
15. ^ "Первая летчица России".
16. ^ "LIHA POLAR первая иностранная сеть общественного.. | Питер. Взгляд назад. | VK".
17. ^ "«СуперБургер» может заменить финскую сеть Hesburger.. | Animation News | VK".
18. ^ a b "Еще одна сеть фастфуда закрывает рестораны в Петербурге". 29 March 2022.
19. ^ "ASTERA вывела на рынок Петербурга финскую сеть Hesburger".
20. ^ "Владельцы мясокомбината «Останкинский» займутся развитием в России сети фаст-фуда Hesburger".
21. ^ Ксения Шамакина (24 January 2012). "«Велком» разложит мясо по тарелкам". Коммерсант, №11, стр. 10. Archived from the original on 1 July 2015. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
22. ^ ""Останкинский» фаст-фуд, или «Русбургер» против «Гамбургера"". 15 November 2011.
23. ^ https://franshiza.ru/news/read/rossiyskiy_hesburger_smenil_vladelca/ Российский Hesburger сменил владельца]
24. ^ "Франшизы Cinnabon, Auntie Anne's и Hesburger".
25. ^ "Hesburger уходит из России медленнее, чем предполагалось". 30 March 2022.
26. ^ "Финская сеть Hesburger закроет свои рестораны в России и Белоруссии". 29 March 2022.
27. ^ "Сеть быстрого питания Hesburger летом закроет свои рестораны в России и Белоруссии". 29 March 2022.
28. ^ "Hesburger - «МегаГрупп»" (in Russian).
29. ^ "На смену закрывшемуся финскому Hesburger идёт СуперБургер".
30. ^ "На смену закрывшемуся финскому Hesburger идёт СуперБургер › Статьи › 47новостей из Ленинградской области".
31. ^ "«СуперБургер» может заменить финскую сеть Hesburger | Crispy News/Криспи Ньюс". 25 May 2022.
32. ^ "Hesburger, кафе быстрого питания, улица Арбат, 22/2 ст4, Москва — 2ГИС". 2gis.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 3 September 2023.
33. ^ "Yandex". eda.yandex.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 3 September 2023.
34. ^ "Hesburger - Organisaatio ja tunnusluvut". www.hesburger.fi (in Finnish). Retrieved 18 July 2017.
35. ^ Migonytė, Sigita. "Prie Molėtų atidarytas naujas "Hesburger"". Retrieved 19 July 2018.
36. ^ "'Hesburger' šiemet Lietuvoje planuoja investuoti 3–4 mln. eurų ir atidaryti iki 4 naujų restoranų". Retrieved 19 July 2018.
37. ^ Migonytė, Sigita. "'Hesburger' į plėtrą Lietuvoje investuos 4 mln. Eur". Retrieved 19 July 2018.
38. ^ "Hesburger - Restaurant chain today". www.hesburger.com. Retrieved 18 August 2024.
39. ^ "Hesburger vei burgerinsa Bulgariaan - aikoo valloittaa koko maan". Talouselämä. 24 August 2017. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
40. ^ Clements, J. (2014). An Armchair Traveller's History of Finland. Haus Publishing. p. 64\. ISBN 978-1-909961-01-2. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
41. ^ Norum, R. (2010). The Rough Guide to Finland. Rough Guide to... Rough Guides. p. 246\. ISBN 978-1-84836-969-6. Retrieved 26 December 2017.
42. ^ Lovell-Smith, Natasha (15 January 2025). "Ranked: the 41 GREATEST fast food burgers of all time". Yahoo! Life. Retrieved 17 July 2025.
43. ^ Saarinen, Sofia (15 July 2025). "Hesburgerin hampurilainen sai maailmankuulun sometähden huutamaan kirosanoja". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Retrieved 17 July 2025.
44. ^ Ripatti, Roosa (15 July 2025). "Youtube-tähti ilakoi suomalaisilla tuotteilla, ja se tuli yllätyksenä firmoille". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved 17 July 2025.
45. ^ "VIDEO: Hesburgeri burks pani IShowSpeedi roppusi röökima". Nelli Teataja (in Estonian). 16 July 2025. Retrieved 17 July 2025.

## External links

[edit]

Media related to Hesburger at Wikimedia Commons

* Official website

Portals:

* Food
* Finland
* Companies