Five Guys has the Right Combination for Success
Strayer University
BUS508
Dr. Peter DeDominici
August 14, 2012

Five Guys has the Right Combination for Success
According to the Five Guys website, Five Guys Burger and Fries (Five Guys) started humbly with one restaurant owned by Jerry Murrell and his family back in 1986 and is now being called one of the largest fast food businesses with over 1,000 locations in the United States and Canada today (www.fiveguys-about Us). Five Guys’ successful model of entrepreneurial leadership included a passion for a good idea, hard work and experiences to build a burger business in the fast-casual dining industry. Jerry Murrell shared his vision and values to his customers through suppliers, employees and now franchisees in a way that has allowed the company’s popularity to soar.
To determine how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other fast-food chains I needed to understand the difference between fast-food and fast-casual dining. In the last several years I noticed that fast-food restaurants like McDonalds and Wendy’s have improved their décor and menu choices. Sanburn (2012) indicated that fast-food restaurants were redefining themselves just to compete with a fast-casual restaurant (like Five Guys). Darren Tristano, executive vice president of Technomic was quoted saying, “Fast casual has raised the bar. When your competitors are doing this, you don't want to lose relevance" (Sanburn, 2012, p.60). I concluded that fast-casual is differentiated by offering healthier ingredients and better customer service.
If you look around, you will notice there are only a handful of fast-casual burger restaurants like Five Guys. According to Franchise Times (2012) (www.franchisetimes.com/article=00643, par. 3-4) fast-casual are defined by higher check averages ($7 and $11), offering an upscale décor, paying at the