Five Guys Burgers And Fries Is America's Fastest Growing Chain

Me personally, I think they should call it Five Guys Fries and Burgers. The Fries are so damn good man! I know I've said it a bunch of times, that I love it when they throw in that extra bunch of Fries into my bag. Dark circles of oil stain the bag. Oh how I wish I had some right now. Well Jerry Murrell, the founder and chief executive of Five Guys, certainly obsesses over the Fries:


“Fries are much harder than burgers,” says Murrell. “We work day and night on them, all the damn time.”


Obviously a passionate guy. What else would you expect from the guy who founded the fastest growing restaurant chain in the US? Currently Five Guys has 1,039 locations with another 1,500 expected (WOW!,) 200 companied owned and the other 839 are franchisees. This is where I start to worry about the company. I know it's a great place, the burgers are good and you know how I feel about the Fries. The problem is that in the US we've been down this road with other companies before, and opening up too fast in too many places can be troublesome. For now though Five Guys upholds strict standards when it comes to buying into the franchise, you have to run the business their way or you're out. Of course there's more to it, but they certainly keep a keen eye on all who join them. One of their motto's is to stick to the menu and keep it simple, because they know where other chains have gone wrong:


“They all started to offer too many items and got away from their core.”


Five Guys is a family run company, the Five Guys being Jerry's five sons. They rely heavily on each others opinions, which can be very strong at times, however their open line of communication are at the heart of why they have succeeded. Still one has to worry if they are getting too big for their own good. In fact in some areas of the country their stores have already begun to compete with each other. Granted they are good at what they do, but the bigger you get the harder it will be to maintain the control they have over the stores.


Please take the time to read a more in depth report about Five Guys from Forbes.com:


www.forbes.com/sites/monteburke/2012/07/18/five-guys-burgers-americas-fastest-growing-restaurant-chain/