| Type | Private |
|---|---|
| Genre | Fast casual |
| Founded | 1986 |
| Headquarters | Lorton, Virginia, U.S. |
| Area served | 40+ states, 5 Canadian provinces. |
| Products | Hamburgers, french fries, hot dogs, soft drinks |
| Website | fiveguys.com |
Five Guys is a fast casual restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries. Originating in Arlington, Virginia, the company's headquarters are now in Lorton, Virginia.
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The Five Guys' menu is centered on hamburgers, with some other options.
The hamburgers are divided into a "Regular Burger", which consists of two beef patties, and a "Little Burger" that has only one patty. Both burger sizes are offered with American cheese, bacon, or both, all for an additional charge.
The menu also includes kosher-style hot dogs, also available with cheese and bacon. Grilled cheese and vegetable sandwiches (made from the various toppings) are also available.
Other condiments are available at no additional charge: Mayo, mustard, ketchup, relish, onion (grilled or raw), lettuce, pickle, tomato, green pepper, jalapeño, and grilled mushrooms. Sauces include BBQ, hot sauce and A1.[1]
There is only one menu side item: Fresh-cut French fries, served boardwalk-style and fried in pure peanut oil. The French fries come in two sizes, and two varieties: "Five Guys style" (unspiced beyond salt), or "Cajun style". Most locations also offer free in-the-shell peanuts.
Five Guys uses buns that are sweeter and eggier than normal buns.[2] Five Guys does not use any timers in the kitchen, following the mantra that "good cooks know when food's done" and they shake the french fries exactly fifteen times.
Some locations[3] also sell breakfast, consisting of egg sandwiches on Five Guys' buns.
A Five Guys restaurant usually has a very simple layout, with red-and-white checkered decorations and one counter for purchasing and picking up food. There are tables and chairs around the restaurants for customers to sit down and eat their food.
The restaurant openly displays its operations through an open kitchen, and bags of potatoes stacked in customer space. The potato stacks originate from a time when the restaurant did not have any other storage space for them.[2]
An interesting feature of most Five Guys restaurants are several cork boards placed on the walls. These cork boards have a stack of notecards and crayons next to them for customers to draw on.
As of April 2011[update], there are more than 750 locations across 40 states and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.[4] An additional five stores open every week.[2]
Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell and their four sons (with Jerry and the sons being the original "Five Guys").[5] [6] Jerry and Janie had a fifth son two years after opening their first restaurant; all five sons, Matt, Jim, Chad, Ben and Tyler, the current "Five Guys", are now involved in the business. Matt and Jim travel the country visiting stores, Chad oversees training, Ben selects the franchisees, and Tyler runs the bakery.[7] The first location, which no longer exists, was in Arlington, Virginia at the Westmont Shopping Center on Columbia Pike at Glebe Road. Buns were baked by Brenner's Bakery of Arlington Inc., which was owned and operated by Gino E. Pellegrino and located in the same shopping center. Brenner's made all the rolls by hand until 2001.
The family opened new locations in Old Town Alexandria and Springfield, Virginia. By 2001, there were five locations in Northern Virginia run by the family. The restaurants had gained popularity among locals, and the Murrells decided to franchise the stores. The Murrells began franchising their concept with the help of Fransmart, a franchise sales organization. Former Washington Redskins kicker Mark Moseley, who had gone to work for Fransmart after his football career, played a key role in the sales of franchises, and went on to become Five Guys' director of franchise development after the Murrells ended their business relationship with Fransmart.[6]
The company shuns national advertising, but sent a T-shirt to President Barack Obama, which landed one of their stores a visit from the President himself.[2]
In 2010 the company used 123 million pounds (55,791 metric tons) of potatoes and they say they used enough peanut oil to fill the Jungle Cruise ride stream at Disneyland. The company's growth exploded when in 2002 the five owners started franchising the business.[2]
Five Guys has received numerous awards in D.C. area publications, including "Number 1 Burger" by Washingtonian Magazine for seven years.
Since franchising, it has also received awards in other cities, including Amherst, New York; Redlands, California; Annapolis, Maryland; Charlotte, North Carolina; Richmond, Virginia; Charlottesville, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Houston, Texas; Austin, Texas; Johnstown, Pennsylvania; State College, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania;[8], Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.[9] Virginia Beach, Virginia;[10]Jacksonville, Florida;[11] Youngstown, Ohio; Schererville, Indiana; Tucson, Arizona; Newburgh, New York and Hampton, Virginia.
They have a somewhat cult following and notable brand enthusiasm. Five Guys has been rated as one of the most talked about burger brands online.[2][12]
As Five Guys continues to expand into the West Coast, comparisons have been made with In-N-Out Burger, another fast food chain with a cult-like following. The Los Angeles Times noted that Five Guys's menu items are generally more expensive, they do not have drive-throughs, and are most often found in shopping malls. The newspaper still conceded that by pricing its products higher, offering bigger burgers and building larger dining rooms, Five Guys could capitalize on the recent trend of mid-level places that offer more expensive products than fast food but cheaper than fancy restaurants.[13]
Men's Health magazine claims that Five Guys' meals are unhealthy.[14] They state that a standard double patty burger, for example, contains 700 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat.[14] Men's Health also rated Five Guys' french fries as some of the most unhealthy food in America, claiming that a standard large order of fries contains almost 1,500 calories.[15] The Center for Science in the Public Interest placed Five Guys's bacon cheeseburger, claiming that it contains 920 calories, among its 2010 list of most unhealthy meals available at U.S. chain restaurants.[16]