Fast-growing restaurant chain
 
step in an international expansion plan.
 
Denver-based Smashburger said it has contracted with Bridging Culture Worldwide, a strategic planning and cross-cultural management
 
service specializing in Korea, in hopes of signing its first South Korean multi-unit franchise development agreement in 2011.
 
“We look forward to beginning our international expansion for Smashburger and know South Korea is a great launch pad for our ‘better
 
burger’ concept in Asia,” Smashburger Chairman and CEO David Prokupek said in a statement.
 
Bridging Culture is based in Carlsbad, Calif., and has offices in Denver and South Korea. Don Southerton is its president and CEO.
 
Smashburger said it hopes to eventually expand elsewhere in Asia as well as into Canada and the Mideast.
 
It announced plans in April to have 100 to 125 stores open nationwide by the end of 2010. It currently operates 13 Front Range locations
 
plus two in Grand Junction and one in Dillon, and plans to open a downtown Denver store at 16th and Larimer in September.
 
Smashburger is owned by a Denver private equity firm,