After finding a lack of smashburger spots in Salt Lake City, Cami Aglaure and Carly Porter decided to fill the gap.
Girls Who Smash was created from a catering side business that turned into something bigger after growing requests for more burger pop-ups.
“We had a different catering company, and we were kind of doing things that were more client preference based. We did one event where someone hired us and they were like, ‘do whatever you want,’ and we [decided], ‘well, let’s try a smashburger,’” said Aglaure. “We felt like we made a pretty solid one, so we tested it out at this event … and it blew up, there were people boxing each other out for the last five burgers. We had people DMing us for weeks trying to find out where to get more.”
When Porter moved back to Utah after living in New York for five years, they wanted to make the smashburger they couldn’t get in SLC.
“No shade on other burger businesses here, [but] nobody makes a smashburger like a true one,” said Porter. “People are craving food that is made with real ingredients — not a ton of crappy oils, not a ton of bad meat — just good quality meat, good quality butter, and different things that just make it taste good.”
Aglaure and Porter decided to start their burger business to “keep the girlies fed” and to have something to get creative with.
People have told the couple to avoid alienating potential customers with their establishment name — Girls Who Smash — but they didn’t want to be like any ordinary burger chain. Aglaure and Porter wanted to be honest with what they stand for.
“We’re really queer centric, and we … figured that people would probably resonate with that,” continued Aglaure. “We might be a little out of pocket, we might be a little provocative, but there was this person I ran into that just started chatting with me at a coffee shop, and he was like, ‘provocative is amazing, you need to be provocative,’ and that’s something we’ve noticed. The queer community has shown up for us.”
According to a CNBC article from 2024, fewer than 15% of businesses in Salt Lake City are owned by women. Data from the U.S. Census Bureau reported this as one of the lowest reported percentages in the United States.
“I think [with] any female-owned business, [there is] a huge networking landscape,” said Aglaure. “It’s been a huge affirmation that it’s important to stay true to yourself and be honest. People, especially right now, are desperate for personality in a business, and authenticity in a business. … Just being super authentic and being ourselves has really worked.”
Girls Who Smash has faced challenges starting up a small business in Salt Lake City, in part because of the many steps needed to operate legally. Aglaure and Porter navigated the catering industry and operated out of a commercial kitchen for a period of time.
More recently, they acquired a food truck to continue their food business. “Salt Lake City […] is not set up to be conducive to small food businesses,” Aglaure shared. “We worked really hard to try to upgrade to a food truck, finally did it; it took about a year to get here.”
“Now, we’re in a new landscape, which is learning the ropes of food trucking, which is like a whole other beast, but it’s okay, we’ll figure it out. [We] figured out the last time, we’ll figure it out now,” continued Aglaure.
Porter’s favorite part of Girls Who Smash is the community.
“When I moved back [to Utah] that was me finally coming out to my Utah home and being able to be in the queer community here,” shared Porter. “[Girls Who Smash] is not only a safe place for gay and queer people, but it’s also a safe space for just about anybody that doesn’t fit into a traditional Utah home.”
Girls Who Smash believes that there is a lack of queer/female representation in the business and food space.
“[We] really liked that it [the business] was more sapphic focused, because it is owned and operated by myself and my partner. We are a lesbian couple, so we felt like there’s also just a huge lack of representation with that […] so we’re working our way up, we’re trying to create, anything we do, we want to create an environment that makes everybody feel safe and comfortable and excited, but most particularly, the queer female community,” said Aglaure.
“Smashing” through a male-dominated space has been their objective. To learn where to find Girls Who Smash, visit their website and Instagram.
