6 ms·

How 5 Guys Burgers and Fries Got Started and Their Practices

62 points by swilliams 17y ago

Glide 17y ago
Wow... It's actually really nice to see how well the Five Guys franchise is doing. I remember going to one often senior year of high school in Northern VA. That would be like... 8-9 years ago. It's really crazy because I drove around my old high school the other day and a Five Guys opened in a shopping center right next to it.
tjarratt 17y ago
Great story about sticking to your ideals, and how to manage growth. I think it's amazing how easy it is to enter the food business compared to selling software. If you make food, someone will be hungry and buy it. If you make software, there is no guarantee that anyone will ever use it. edit: I guess what I hadn't considered was that they were making good food and still serving it to people, despite competition from faster, cheaper companies. People tend to flock to good software, so maybe they aren't that different?
- edw519 17y ago
  I think it's amazing how easy it is to enter the food business comparing to selling software. I've done both and AFAIC, you couldn't be further from the truth. I've never had trouble finding customers with problems to solve with information and always earning what most others would consider a very nice living. In foodservice, you will work your ass off at all hours (especially nights and weekends), you'll sweat, be filthy, have very slim margins, and often face brutal competition. And if you think computer users are fickle, just try feeding people. You have no idea.
yesimahuman 17y ago
Sucks to be allergic to peanuts (if you've been you'll understand). 5 Guys is great.
va_coder 17y ago
Focus. All they serve are delicious burgers, hot dogs and fries.
- chbarts 17y ago
  Don't forget the free peanuts. They're different enough to serve as a hook to make sure people remember the business.
matrix 17y ago
I wish I could understand what's behind the 5 Guys hype - has anyone seen an analysis of that? It's definitely not the food quality. I've eaten at a few of their locations and their burger patties are thin and utterly flavorless. Even factoring that its a fast-food burger, it still pales in comparison to say, NYC's Shake Shack or DC's Elevation Burger, and of course if you're not talking fast food burgers, all bets are off (e.g. Ray's Hellburger in VA). I'd like to understand why they're so popular, just to understand what makes the business really tick. I don't think it's about the food quality; I'm guessing it's a sort of social status thing - being "in the know" by going there?
- jawn 17y ago
  Dude, you're an out of touch yuppy. They're popular because compared to similiarly priced fare (McDonalds/Wendy's) 5 Guys might as well be michelin rated.
  - theBobMcCormick 17y ago
    You must not have many good burger places where you live. 5 Guys burgers are good, but IMHO Freddies's (http://www.freddysfrozencustard.com/ http://www.freddysfrozencustard.com/) and SmashBurger (http://www.smashburger.com/ http://www.smashburger.com/) are both way better than 5 Guys.
    - jawn 17y ago
      No we really don't :(. 5 guys' home, northern VA, is a chain food mecca. Anything that is able to escape the chain food feel becomes wildly popular. A key reason for their success is this ability to retain the local burger feeling, while still being able to franchise quickly.
      - mattrepl 17y ago
        NoVA and the DC metro area is huge, we have lots of restaurants. Yes, some are chains, but there are a ton of awesome local places as well. I cringe when you suggest there are no good, local places to eat here. Yelp is decent for finding some of them. I actually like Five Guys, their Cajun-seasoned fries are amazing. There's also Ray's Hell-Burger, Foster's Grille, Tuskie's (amazing lamb burger), and others in Alexandria, Arlington, and DC.
javery 17y ago
I love 5 Guys fries but reading about Thrashers reminds me of the true best fries in the world.. if only it wasn't a six hour drive from here.
staunch 17y ago
> "If you're in a hurry, there are a lot of really good hamburger places within a short distance from here." This kind of thing separates different kinds of entrepreneurs very sharply. I'm not necessarily sure one is better than the other, but I know which kind I am. I like opinionated people, companies, and products.
mkramlich 17y ago
I recommend that magazine for entrepreneur types. One of the few print magazines I feel are worth a subscription.
gamble 17y ago
I have to give this guy some respect as the only honest franchisor I've ever seen: "We make 6 percent of sales on the franchises. All franchises work the same way: People say they want to sell your product. So you give them a Franchise Development Agreement that explains all the ways we can beat them down. I don't know if I would ever sign it. We can get out of the deal a million ways, but they are stuck."
rmason 17y ago
Remember hearing from people for a long time about 5 guys before I tried it on a trip to D.C. Quite frankly I was underwhelmed and don't understand the hype. The Wisconsin chain, Culver's, absolutely blows them away.

62 points by swilliams 17y ago

Glide 17y ago

Wow... It's actually really nice to see how well the Five Guys franchise is doing. I remember going to one often senior year of high school in Northern VA. That would be like... 8-9 years ago. It's really crazy because I drove around my old high school the other day and a Five Guys opened in a shopping center right next to it.

tjarratt 17y ago

Great story about sticking to your ideals, and how to manage growth. I think it's amazing how easy it is to enter the food business compared to selling software. If you make food, someone will be hungry and buy it. If you make software, there is no guarantee that anyone will ever use it. edit: I guess what I hadn't considered was that they were making good food and still serving it to people, despite competition from faster, cheaper companies. People tend to flock to good software, so maybe they aren't that different?

edw519 17y ago
I think it's amazing how easy it is to enter the food business comparing to selling software. I've done both and AFAIC, you couldn't be further from the truth. I've never had trouble finding customers with problems to solve with information and always earning what most others would consider a very nice living. In foodservice, you will work your ass off at all hours (especially nights and weekends), you'll sweat, be filthy, have very slim margins, and often face brutal competition. And if you think computer users are fickle, just try feeding people. You have no idea.

yesimahuman 17y ago

Sucks to be allergic to peanuts (if you've been you'll understand). 5 Guys is great.

va_coder 17y ago

Focus. All they serve are delicious burgers, hot dogs and fries.

chbarts 17y ago
Don't forget the free peanuts. They're different enough to serve as a hook to make sure people remember the business.

matrix 17y ago

I wish I could understand what's behind the 5 Guys hype - has anyone seen an analysis of that? It's definitely not the food quality. I've eaten at a few of their locations and their burger patties are thin and utterly flavorless. Even factoring that its a fast-food burger, it still pales in comparison to say, NYC's Shake Shack or DC's Elevation Burger, and of course if you're not talking fast food burgers, all bets are off (e.g. Ray's Hellburger in VA). I'd like to understand why they're so popular, just to understand what makes the business really tick. I don't think it's about the food quality; I'm guessing it's a sort of social status thing - being "in the know" by going there?

jawn 17y ago
Dude, you're an out of touch yuppy. They're popular because compared to similiarly priced fare (McDonalds/Wendy's) 5 Guys might as well be michelin rated.
- theBobMcCormick 17y ago
  You must not have many good burger places where you live. 5 Guys burgers are good, but IMHO Freddies's (http://www.freddysfrozencustard.com/ http://www.freddysfrozencustard.com/) and SmashBurger (http://www.smashburger.com/ http://www.smashburger.com/) are both way better than 5 Guys.
  - jawn 17y ago
    No we really don't :(. 5 guys' home, northern VA, is a chain food mecca. Anything that is able to escape the chain food feel becomes wildly popular. A key reason for their success is this ability to retain the local burger feeling, while still being able to franchise quickly.
    - mattrepl 17y ago
      NoVA and the DC metro area is huge, we have lots of restaurants. Yes, some are chains, but there are a ton of awesome local places as well. I cringe when you suggest there are no good, local places to eat here. Yelp is decent for finding some of them. I actually like Five Guys, their Cajun-seasoned fries are amazing. There's also Ray's Hell-Burger, Foster's Grille, Tuskie's (amazing lamb burger), and others in Alexandria, Arlington, and DC.

javery 17y ago

I love 5 Guys fries but reading about Thrashers reminds me of the true best fries in the world.. if only it wasn't a six hour drive from here.

staunch 17y ago

> "If you're in a hurry, there are a lot of really good hamburger places within a short distance from here." This kind of thing separates different kinds of entrepreneurs very sharply. I'm not necessarily sure one is better than the other, but I know which kind I am. I like opinionated people, companies, and products.

mkramlich 17y ago

I recommend that magazine for entrepreneur types. One of the few print magazines I feel are worth a subscription.

gamble 17y ago

I have to give this guy some respect as the only honest franchisor I've ever seen: "We make 6 percent of sales on the franchises. All franchises work the same way: People say they want to sell your product. So you give them a Franchise Development Agreement that explains all the ways we can beat them down. I don't know if I would ever sign it. We can get out of the deal a million ways, but they are stuck."

rmason 17y ago

Remember hearing from people for a long time about 5 guys before I tried it on a trip to D.C. Quite frankly I was underwhelmed and don't understand the hype. The Wisconsin chain, Culver's, absolutely blows them away.