Today we’d like to introduce you to Isaac Huerta Christopher Villaseñor
Hi Isaac Huerta , we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
Smashed-up Burgers originated from two college students cooking burgers in the backyard on a summer night in 2023. 19 weeks later, the power of social media helped over a million eyes view our story. Since June 2023, our burgers have been served to over a thousand residents in the cities of Whittier, Anaheim, Torrance, Riverside, Redondo Beach, Brea, and many more.. With a strong young team, Isaac, Christopher, and partner Dominick, have become well known names in the Food vendor industry.
We believe in the power of simplicity and quality here at Smashed-up.. Our goal is to stand out to our costumers and provide that unique yet unforgettable flavor despite of our younger age.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It was definitely not easy trying to turn a residential home into a Smash burger hangout. Our original team started, with just two members. As our team began to grow, so did our clientele. At one point, we had over 400 Whittier residents in line at our residential home. Unfortunately, for safety issues, we ended up shutting down operation. Our home journey lasted until October 2023. It was bittersweet to leave the community but we then found ourselves returning but this time, at local breweries. We are currently regular vendors at breweries in the cities of Anaheim, Torrance, and Placentia.
As you know, we’re big fans of Smashed-Up Burgers. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Smashed-Up Burgers was an idea from two 19 year old boys who wanted to create an extra source of income. This would also help pay for college Expenses as well. The original idea involved about 20-30 people gathering at our Whittier residency every Friday while enjoying smash burgers. This only lasted about 3 weeks, because once the Instagram account was made, more friends and family began to hear about us. The menu then expanded to milkshakes, and tater tots. With three things on the menu, people were staying later (sometimes till 2:00am) and we had family arriving as early as 4:30pm.
Those long nights were eventually worth it after meeting with @LatinafoodieLA. A food influencer who is dominant on tik tok and Instagram. Our video was shot on our 18th week of business. By week 22, the video already had millions of views.
A challenge that we encountered was balancing our personal lives with our new viral business. It all happened within hours, we had so many eyes on what we were doing , it felt so surreal. We went from friends and family, to the public eye. It felt like everyone in our city knew what our concept was and we were so excited to share it. We ended up putting in a two-week notice. This was going to be our life now. At the time, we had no idea what was going to be next. From cooking out of a house one day, and the next day not having anywhere to cook at, made us a bit nervous for the future. With no other job, we had to think fast. With 2023 coming to end, we knew something would eventually come but we were just hoping our gut feelings were correct.
Once 2024 rolled in, everything began falling in its place. Catering private events, serving at local breweries who enjoy our presence, and even being on radio interviews and podcasts. A special thanks to Ryan Seacrest and Chefs Table Podcast! Our work consists of being a pop up restaurant. We strive to bring our costumers the same experience we had at the backyard at every single event we hold. Everywhere location we go to, is very family friendly, dog friendly, and is always a great time for our smash burger community. We serve with high energy and our food will not take longer than 8 minutes to arrive to you. Unfortunately, we are not selling tater tots or milkshakes at the moment, but in the future that is our goal. Our short term goal is to own a food truck, but our long term goal is to open a brick and mortar. Los Angeles or San Diego are such populated areas that we feel like we would excel well in.
We are very appreciative of everyone who has been apart of the Smashed-Up journey so far. Our team continues to work on side projects as well such as street fashion and photography. Our clothing brand, “Smash Day” was created in January of 2024. When we have free time away from breweries and events, our team brainstorms ideas on how to create fashion that is relevant in the street culture. We currently have one tee-shirt available on our website. We debuted our “tour tee” photoshoot in March of 2024. Our goal is to create more pieces by this winter. Smashed-Up Merchandise has been a popular request since week 1 and we want to deliver big in our own personal style! Videos, shirts, and jackets are on the way. A special thank you to everyone on the “Smash Day” team.
What would you say have been one of the most important lessons you’ve learned?
Being business owners who are under the age of 21 has taught us many valuable lessons. We are so grateful for local influencers who make a name for themselves on social media. We have expanded into many different counties and have met so many new faces each and every week. Our relationship with our costumers is like no other, we even do private catering when we are not selling at our usual locations. We are still very excited to see what the future holds for us. We have completed so many amazing projects with only being in business for a little over a year. We are so appreciative for our amazing parents who help us go through this process of becoming young entrepreneurs. It’s such a blessing to be able to serve such happy costumers on a weekly basis, we truly love what we do.
Pricing:
- Single Smash $9
- Double Smash $11
- Cali Burger $13
Contact Info:
- Website: https://smashed-up.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/smashedupburgs?igsh=YTQwZjQ0NmI0OA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@smashmedia24?si=M1kLJOrehaEbskNP
Image Credits
All photos were taken by the Smashed-Up Team.
Christoper Villaseñor
Isaac Huerta
