I hadn’t even heard of Five Guys until recently, but they’re clearly doing something right:
Four years ago, before franchising, Five Guys was just a little family burger operation with five locations and a steady, if cultish following, in Northern Virginia. Today the business is by some estimates heading toward $1 billion in value. Five Guys has 87 locations. Most are in the Washington region, but a hundred more will open along the East Coast this year, and another thousand are being phased in. Each store, the company says, pulls in about $1 million a year.
Their franchising strategy:
Thus, you can’t buy one Five Guys franchise. You have to buy at least five — essentially filling up a small territory. The current price for each one is $45,000, plus 6 percent of annual sales. By comparison, a new McDonald’s franchise fee is $45,000.Requiring a large purchase of stores also, the Murrells said, attracts more professional owners. High-tech executives, former Marriott executives, and owners of fine restaurants have signed up. “They see something that’s a good opportunity,” said Moseley, who owns Five Guys franchises and works full time selling them for the company. “There’s a better than even chance to be really successful in something that belongs to you.”
How they make the food:
The Five Guys franchising contract is rather specific, stipulating the number of bacon strips (two) and pickles (four) placed on burgers should those items be requested. The Murrells send in secret customers to make sure, for instance, that the hand-cut French fries are shaken 15 times after seasoning. The Murrells have found through extensive study that this tactic takes off just the right amount of grease.Also, after a burger is placed on the grill, it is to be flattened only once, so as not to squeeze out all the juice. Tyler Murrell was once a customer at a franchise store. He saw the grill man press down more than once on the meat. He leapt over the counter to stop him.
There is also a stipulation that franchises use Mount Olive pickles. “We have tasted every pickle that you could cut and slice and put in a jar,” Matt Murrell said. “We have been using the Mount Olive pickle for the last 10 years. It’s crunchy. If you eat pickles, you know there are sweet pickles, sour pickles, soft pickles, crunchy pickles. There’s all kinds of pickles, but we like the Mount Olive pickles.”
The Murrells, who bake the buns for all the stores, run the operation out of a warehouse in Lorton, with each son overseeing different parts of the business.