Five Guys

Five Guys Enterprises, LLC/Five Guys Holdings, LLC, doing business as Five Guys, is a fast casual restaurant chain focused on hamburgers, hot dogs, and French fries, with its headquarters in the Lorton community in unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia. The first Five Guys restaurant opened in 1986 in Arlington County, Virginia, and between 1986 and 2001, the chain expanded to five locations scattered through the Washington, D.C. metro area.

In early 2003, the chain began franchising, opening the doors to rapid expansion. In just a year and a half, permits had been sold for over 300 franchised locations, catching the attention of the national restaurant industry. As of 2012, Five Guys has over 1000 locations open throughout the United States and Canada and over 1500 locations under development. The company is the fastest-growing fast food chain in the United States, with a 32.8% sales increase from 2010 to 2011.

Food
The Five Guys menu is centered on hamburgers offered with American cheese or bacon, kosher style hot dogs, grilled cheese and vegetable sandwiches. Five Guys uses buns that are sweeter and "eggier" than normal buns. French fries are the sole side item, available salted only in "Five Guys style" or seasoned "Cajun style".

Complimentary roasted in-shell peanuts are offered for on-site consumption at most locations, with signage alerting potential customers who may have a peanut allergy. Peanuts are not permitted to be taken out of the restaurant, out of concern for spreading the allergen.

Some outlets also offer egg sandwiches on Five Guys buns for breakfast.

Restaurants
A Five Guys restaurant usually has a simple layout of red-and-white checkered decorations, a single counter for purchasing and picking up food and a few tables and chairs.

Kitchens are open and bags of potatoes are stacked in customer spaces dating back to when lack of storage required it.

Most restaurants offer wall-mounted cork boards with a stack of notecards and crayons next to them for customers to draw on, or if deaf, write to order.

, there are more than 1,000 locations across 40 states and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. An additional five stores open in the USA every week.

History


Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell, Jerry and the couple's sons, Matt, Jim, Chad, and Ben, being the original "Five Guys". The Murrells had a fifth son, Tyler, two years later. Today all five sons, the current "Five Guys", are involved: Matt and Jim travel the country visiting stores, Chad oversees training, Ben selects the franchisees, and Tyler runs the bakery. The first Five Guys was in Arlington's Westmont Shopping Center. Buns were baked in the same center by Brenner's Bakery. This location closed, in favor of another in Alexandria, at the intersection of King and North Beauregard Streets, which closed on September 21, 2013.

More followed in Old Town Alexandria and Springfield, Virginia, making five by 2001. Their success encouraged the Murrells to franchise their concept the following year, engaging 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 Five Guys' expansion and went on to become the company's director of franchise development after it ended its business relationship with Fransmart. In early 2003 the chain began franchising, opening the doors to rapid expansion which caught the attention of national restaurant trade organizations and the national press. The expansion started in Virginia and Maryland, and by the end of 2004, over 300 units were in development through the Northeast. Over the next few years the chain rapidly expanded across the entire United States and into Canada, reaching over 1000 locations by 2012.

The first location outside North America opened in the United Kingdom in July 2013, in London on Long Acre in Covent Garden, one day before the opening of Shake Shack's first UK outlet just 300m away. The second location was in Reading, Berkshire. The chain plans to open more restaurants in the UK in 2013. Five Guys has also talked about expanding to mainland Europe and Australia in the near future.

Reception
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; Huntington, New York; Charlottesville, Virginia; St. Louis, Missouri; Houston, Texas; Austin, Texas; Johnstown, Pennsylvania; State College, Pennsylvania; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Virginia Beach, Virginia; Jacksonville, Florida;  Youngstown, Ohio; Schererville, Indiana; Tucson, Arizona; Newburgh, New York and Hampton, Virginia.

The chain has something of a cult following and remarkable brand loyalty. Five Guys has been rated one of the most talked-about burger brands online.

As Five Guys continues to expand into the West Coast comparisons have been made with In-N-Out Burger, another generally similar fast food chain. Comparing the two chains in 2011, the Los Angeles Times noted that Five Guys' menu items are generally more expensive than In-N-Out's, they lack drive-throughs that In-N-Out is famous for, and are most often found inside 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.

In 2012, Market Force Information, Inc. polled 7,600 fast-food consumers, and Five Guys ranked No. 1 in food quality and taste, service, cleanliness, and atmosphere.

In 2011, Five Guys was ranked first in "Fast Food - Large Chains" and "Best Burger" in Zagat's annual Fast Food Survey.

Criticism
Men's Health magazine stated on their web site that Five Guys' meals are generally considered unhealthy. They state that a standard double patty burger, for example, contains 700 calories and 20 grams of saturated fat. Men's Health also rated Five Guys' french fries as some of the most unhealthy food in America, saying that a standard large order of fries contains almost 1,500 calories. The Center for Science in the Public Interest placed Five Guys' bacon cheeseburger, which it claims contains 920 calories, among its 2010 list of most unhealthy meals available at U.S. chain restaurants.