Five Guys “The Standard of Excellence”
Jalisa Williams
Garcia Mills-Tate
Strayer University
October 28, 2012

Five Guys “The Standard of Excellence” Five Guys Burgers and Fries was started by Janie and Jerry Murrell and there 5 sons. Opening their first store in 1986 in their home town of Arlington, VA, the Murrells were set to take a competitive market by storm (Boone & Kurtz, pg.78). One would think that opening a burger joint with the likes of mega chains (e.g. McDonalds, Burger King), was out right crazy but determined to tap into this common market these classical entrepreneurs using $70,000 (Burke, pg. 95) as a start-up began their venture.
Philosophy
Jerry Murrell believed in two simple philosophies “Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect fries. Don’t cut corners” and “Treat that person right, he’ll walk out the door and sell for you”. These mindsets are what have propelled the company into what it is today. Without the customer or their employees Five Guys may not have been able to survive the recent downturn of the economy.
Values
Five Guys main focus is to provide customers with great service and great food. They believed that by making a quality burger and fries they would make the customer love them so much they would not have to pay for advertising because the customer will advertise for them. Word of mouth advertising is the oldest form of advertising and with the quality of their food this form of advertising has brought the food chain mass success and admiration (White, pg. 57). They believe that keeping the customers happy, the menu simple and their employees happy their best assets.
Factors of Success
Money Concepts
The way the business handles money made by the burger mogul has been the benefitting factor for their success. Five guys does not believe in having fancy retail establishments or marketing,