In 1986 the first Five Guys location opened their doors in Arlington, VA, when Jerry and Janie Murrell advised their two older, of four sons to "Start a business or go to college.” The business route won and the Murrell family opened a carry-out hamburger business. In 1987 after the birth of Mr. Murrell’s fifth son, the name "Five Guys" evolved. As their family grew, so did their business.
Under the guidance of Jerry, founder and CEO and Janie, the Murrell family served only hand-formed burgers cooked to perfection on a grill along with fresh-cut fries cooked in pure peanut oil. Five Guys was the place to get a fresh, juicy burger with all the toppings you could stuff between fresh-baked buns.
What started as a modest burger shack in a Virginia strip mall has exploded into America’s fastest-growing restaurant chain, with five stores opening each week. Five Guys serves up made-to-order burgers with beef that’s never frozen and absurdly large servings of hand-cut fries. The fresh, generous meals allow them to charge more than fast food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King (Weise, 2011)
The Five Guys mission statement is aligned with the philosophy that if you're going to sell hamburgers and french fries in a restaurant industry that is crowded with hamburger-french-fries chains, you'd better do hamburgers and french fries better than anyone else. Simply stated, the mission statement of Five Guys Burgers and Fries is: "We are in the business of selling burgers." "Five Guys goal is to sell the best quality burgers possible. To sell the best burger possible, we focus on Quality, Service, and Cleanliness." In addition to their goal, the family owned and operated business focuses on perfecting their limited menu and building a devout local following.
Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don't cut corners. That's been the business plan since Jerry Murrell and his sons opened their first burger joint in 1986.
The store thrived, thanks to word of mouth and some positive reviews in the local press. A second restaurant opened in 1989. A handful more opened in subsequent years. The new places had a positive effect on family harmony. As they expanded Murrell was adamant about one thing: The menu had to stay the same, just burgers and fries, and good ones. The burgers were handmade and never frozen. The hand-cut fries, also never frozen, were sourced from northern climes (“Denser texture,” says Murrell). “We kept trying to refine what we already did,” he says. He set his house on fire while trying to figure out how to cook better fries.
From the beginning the seven Murrells have made business decisions by a unanimous vote. To this day the entire family meets every Tuesday at 1 p.m. at the Lorton headquarters to talk business. The meetings can get boisterous. “We have soundproofed walls in the meeting room, and my office is on one side and Janie’s is on the other,” says Chad. “We don’t want the rest of the office hearing us go at it.”
Their biggest decision came in 2002. By then there were five restaurants, all in northern Virginia. There appeared to be an appetite for more, and franchising seemed like the way to do it. Murrell was initially against it. “I just wasn’t sure I could get strangers to buy into our concept,” he says. But his sons—led by Matt—pushed him. Matt bought his father a copy of Franchising for Dummies, co-written by Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas. The book struck a chord. And around that time the family met Mark Moseley, the former Washington Redskin and the last “straight ahead” kicker in the NFL. Moseley had a burger joint of his own and had been interested in franchising “before my partner sold it out from under me,” he says. Moseley and the Murrells met with Fransmart, a franchise-development company. The family all voted in favor of the move. Moseley was hired to head up franchising (Burke, 2012).
In my opinion, the three factors that contributed to Five Guys success in such a short time include the following:
1) Always fresh, never frozen
2) High quality (98% lean beef, peanut oil)
3) Customer Satisfaction
Five Guys got into its current position by keeping what it stands for and what it produces very simple so that customers know exactly what they are getting. Coupled with this it has been in the right place at the right time, as the "better burger" market has grown rapidly in a short space of time.
The rise of the better burger and casual dining markets are indicative of the beginnings of a change in US tastes; ingredients and quality are becoming more important to consumers than they have been before. The large fast food corporations are steadily becoming aware of this trend, however, and are adapting their menus.
Assess how ethical and social practices are part of the Five Guys culture and provide examples to support your choices:
The local food movement seeks to better connect consumers with the origins of their food. But this practice is extending beyond farmers’ markets and menu citations of the farm names. Five Guys uses their responsibility to their customers by choosing the right of the customer to be informed. Five Guys, which saw 32.8% sales growth ($950 million) in 2011 per Technomic’s “Top 150 Fast-Casual Chain Restaurant Report,” features a chalkboard near the front counter at many locations calling out the name and location of the farmer who cultivated that day’s potatoes used to make the fries. Almost invariably, that farm is hundreds of miles from that particular Five Guys location, but providing such information is a powerful psychological tool that further solidifies an emotional connection between chain and consumer (Peckenpaugh, 2012).
Five Guys social practice is to provide quality foods. They use only fresh ground beef, the potatoes for their fries come from northern Idaho although they can purchase cheaper from California or Florida they refuse to use anything but the best. Their produce is always fresh, never frozen, and they only use Peanut oil for frying, and a local bakery to supply their own buns. The restaurant concentrates on the items it knows best and no detail is too fine.
After more than 20 years of opening their first restaurant, their menu remains virtually unchanged despite pressure from some franchisees to add items. Five Guys’ simple and folksy culture trickles from the top and focuses on customer satisfaction to continue to serve up burgers tasty enough for the U.S. president.
According to the Five Guys’ website, over 20 years after Five Guys first opened, there are over 1,000 locations nationwide and over 1500 units in development. Five Guys continues to receive media attention and has grown a cult-like following around the world.

References:

Boone, L.E. & Kurtz, D.L. (2012 Update). Contemporary business (14th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Burke, M. (2012, July 18). Five Guys Burgers: America's Fastest Growing Restaurant Chain. Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://www.forbes.com
Company Web site, http://www.fiveguys.com, accessed October 26, 2013
Research and, M. (10). Research and Markets: Five Guys: The "Better Burger" Restaurant's Success Story is Indicative of a Change in Tastes. Business Wire (English).
Weise, K. (2011, August 11). Behind Five Guys’ Beloved Burgers. Retrieved October 26, 2013 from http://www.businessweek.com
Peckenpaugh, D. J. (2012, May 18). Burger-wars-part-2-ethical-and-transparent. Retrieved November 9, 2013 from http://www.foodproductdesign.com