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Assignment 1: Five Guys

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Introduction
What do you get when two parents motivate five sons to make a decision between going to college or to start a business? You’ve guessed right, Five Guys Burgers and Fries. Their ingredients for success were founded in 1986 by parents Jerry and Janie Murrell along with their five sons (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Five Guys went from a small family restaurant to being considered the fastest growing food industry in today’s consumer market. Moreover, their success was only pinpointed on the quality of the burgers served and less on advertising. Throughout this research report, I’ll explain the philosophy, values, successful factor contributions, and ethical and social practices of the Five Guys business culture.
1. Determine how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other fast-food chains. Ever since the establishment of Five Guys Burgers and Fries, they’ve desired their business plan to be simple. As stated by Jerry Murrell, “Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don’t cut corners (Boone & Kurtz, 2012).” This kind of philosophy has voted them to be number one as customers favorite go to restaurant (Hsu, 2012). To stand out from other fast food chains, Five Guys wanted to focus on the quality of food and less advertising as possible. In addition, their food is always served fresh with burgers that are eighty percent lean patties that aren’t frozen with a side of Idaho potatoes that fried in peanut oil (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Furthermore, they ensure that the ingredients are of best quality to satisfy the customer’s tasty needs. Other fast food companies like Burger King, McDonalds, and Taco Bell serve meat that is USDA approved, but the meat is of low standard. The burger patties served at these restaurants are called “Pink Slime” whereas this meat is induced with Ammonium Hydroxide (Satran, 2012). As for Five Guys, their goal is to serve a delicious high quality burger and to ensure that the well-being their customers are met first. When customers are satisfied, they feel that their money is going towards a well deserved want.
2. Analyze the original values for the start-up company and how it remains strong today. Five Guys is not only focused on the care of its customers, but it is also extended towards the company as a whole. This is all determined through the many core values and strengths derived within their company; therefore, the original recipe of their success is ("5 reasons why," 2010):
• Quality Food
• Great Customer Service
• Appreciate and Value Employees
• Expound on Natural Talents Every week Five Guys are audited by secret shoppers who survey them on professionalism, safety and cleanliness ("5 reasons why," 2010). If their employees do pass within those areas, Five Guys will reward them one thousand dollars which is usually shared amongst five to six people. Moreover, it’s imperative for Five Guys to carry great customer service, because they know that customers will share their food experience with family and friends; therefore, naturally the customers become great salesmen based on how they were treated. These values will always remain strong for Five Guys, because it makes them marketable and enables a lot of respect from their employees to the customers.

3. Enumerate three (3) factors that contributed to Five Guys’ success in such a short period of time and what effect, if any, external markets had on these factors. Due to Five Guys instant success within a short period of time, there were certain inputs that driven them to a competitive enterprise. The following factors that contributed to their success are (Boone & Kurtz, 2012):
• Natural Resources
• Human Resources
• Entrepreneurship
All three of these factor contributions brought forth the passion, creativity, and vision of the Five Guys entrepreneurial leadership. They used natural ingredients like peanut oil, Idaho potatoes and baked bread from scratch so that customers can experience a meal with less grease intake with more value. Furthermore, they invested ways on how to make their employees happy by rewarding them with bonuses that entailed a job well done. Not only that, the Murrell’s and their five sons started a business using only saved college funds to invest in a dream that started so small, but expanded all the way to Canada whereas opening 570 total locations (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Also, the Five Guys desire their marketing tactics to be more unique by having less exposure in media whereas allowing their food to present itself.
4. Assess how ethical and social practices are part of the Five Guys culture and provide examples to support your choices. Speaking from personal experience, when I went to the Five Guys restaurant, I experienced an atmosphere that was friendly and down to earth, as if you were home. Socially, they encourage friends and family to have a good time. In addition, the place is clean and with that alone they care for the welfare of the people by following within the policies and procedures of governed health codes. Furthermore, they ethically encourage fair practices within employment ("Disclosure of five," 2010). For example, providing weekly audits towards employees professionalism, promotes accountability and responsibility of how a company should be operated (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). Beneficially, their website allows consumers to leave feedback about the Five Guys product which encourages the right for them to be heard. In addition, consumers should be able to have access to the appropriate parties to voice their concerns (Boone & Kurts, 2012). Also, this enhances the loyalty and trust with Five Guys and their consumers.
Conclusion
Five Guys Burger and Fries will forever be great entrepreneurs due to the simple creativity of the burgers and fries. Food will always be served fresh by employees that have a sense of belonging within the company that offer profitable rewards. Five Guys are true visionary leaders, because they’ve worked hard from a decision that appeared to be risky whereas successfully making their business unique from other restaurants of a common idea.

Resources
Satran, J. (2012, January 27). Pink slime, ammonium hydroxide fast food ground beef additative, dropped by mcdonald. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/pink-slime-fast-food_n_1237206.html
Hsu, T. (2012, September 19). Five guys voted favorite burger chain, mcdonald's near bottom. Retrieved from http://articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/19/business/la-fi-mo-five-guys-burger-mcdonalds-20120918
5 reasons why five guys is a big success. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.inc.com/ss/five-guys-burgers-and-fries
Boone. , & Kurtz, D. (2012). Contemporary business. (14th ed.). Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions
Disclosure of five guys enterprises llc and its subsidiaries. (2010). Retrieved from http://www.fiveguys.com/california-supply-chains-act-disclosure.aspx

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