Don’t Pass On Girls Who Smash

In October 2024, Cami Aglaure and Carly Porter had been operating a small catering outfit specializing in raclette — a cheese traditionally melted and scraped over boiled potatoes, pickles and cured meat. When approached by a friend to cater their gallery opening as a one-off favor, they initially agreed, thinking they would bring their hot, melty cheese for the occasion. As fate would have it, an unseasonably warm weather forecast and a little hesitation in the cheese department had Aglaure and Porter electing to make burgers for the event instead, and Girls Who Smash (GWS) was born. To think, a slight deviation in fall temps and we would have Girls Who Scrape (Girls Who Spread?).

Smashburgers are super thin burger patties smashed down with a spatula directly onto the griddle surface as they cook, characterized by their well-done, caramelized texture and lacy edges, not unlike the crispy margins of a fried egg. That first instance cooking burgers at the gallery opening created such an undeniable buzz that GWS was christened that very same night. It was immediately clear their smashburgers had legs. The GWS gals only fired up the griddle for about five more pop-up events before their operation upgraded to wheels. In March 2025, they outfitted a food truck trailer and committed fully to the venture (no, it wasn’t a U-Haul). One of the gals reveals, “We overheard one person say, ‘Yeah, but do they have fries?’ before walking away. That’s when we knew we needed a proper food truck to increase capacity.”

The menu now includes (loaded) fries and two signature menu items: the Hot Mess — the OG version of the smash burger they’ve made since day one — and the Spice Girl, a once-limited special, featuring chipotle mayo and jalapenos now indelibly marked in valentine-card-pink font. I choose to accept their two-item menu as an act of great mercy, a reprieve from a world of endless options and decision fatigue. Porter is frank, citing the limitations and difficulties of maintaining inventory when operating out of a truck and shared commissary kitchen.

They are likewise constrained by the speed at which they can keep the girlies fed. With lines quickly growing 20-100 deep, you can expect a wait commensurate with the quality they maintain — it’s not fast food. And yet there is also grace to be found in waiting. A sign hilariously titled “Rushing Ruins Romance” encourages impatient customers to get to know one another, call their moms, pet a cute dog, etc. “Everybody in line has a phone. You can literally scroll through TikTok,” Aglaure deadpans.

“You’ll see burger-loving, straight, cis Utahns in line right next to drag queens.”

This lesbian-owned burger stand is operating firmly in a traditionally male-dominated space. The only openly gay burger flipper I can think of in mainstream media is SpongeBob. “We always knew the queer community would support us, but there’s been almost no hate at all. You’ll see burger-loving, straight, cis Utahns in line right next to drag queens,” Porter says with pride.

“We always partner with other local businesses for our specials.”

Since demand never seemed an issue from day one, GWS has been able to focus on showing up where they want to see food trucks, rather than where you might expect to find one. They pop up in alleys, they pop up in neighborhoods and they pop other businesses up with them when they collaborate. One of the co-founders says, “We always partner with other local businesses for our specials and want to use our following to lend visibility to other women and LGBTQ+ owned businesses in the area.”

As they continue to grow, the GWS gals are dreaming up ways to make their pop-ups into community events – think clothes mending, movie nights and clothing swaps. This June, you can expect to find GWS expanding to Provo and Ogden and reliably all summer trading weeks between the Downtown Farmers Market and Wheeler Farm — just keep an eye on @girlswhosmashslc for their schedule.

Dig in to more stories about local eats:
So F’Koshing Good
It’s Always the Weekend at Swedish Moose Candy Company

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