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 unincorporatedFairfax County, Virginia. The company originated in Arlington County, Virginia. It previously occupied a different location in Lorton.

 

Five Guys restaurants offer complimentary peanuts

The Five Guys' menu is centered on hamburgers offered with American cheese or bacon, kosher stylehot dogs, grilled cheese and vegetable sandwiches. Five Guys uses buns that are sweeter and "eggier" than normal buns.

 

Fresh-cut 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, with bags of potatoes stacked in customer space, dating 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.

 

As of April 2012, there are more than 1000 locations across 40 states and in the Canadian provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.An additional five stores open every week.

 

History

Five Guys was founded in 1986 by Janie and Jerry Murrell, Jerry and the couple's four 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 Arlington at the intersection of King and North Beauregard Streets, still in operation today.

 

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 RedskinskickerMark 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 2010 the company claimed to have used 123 million pounds (55,791 metric tons) of potatoes and enough peanut oil to fill the Jungle Cruise ride stream at Disneyland.

 

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.

 

They have somewhat of a cult following and notable brand enthusiasm. Five Guys has been rated as 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. The Los Angeles Times noted that Five Guys's menu items are somewhat more expensive, they lack 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.

 

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

 

Criticism

Men's Health magazine says that Five Guys' meals are 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 says contains 920 calories, among its 2010 list of most unhealthy meals available at U.S. chain restaurants.