Five Guys Strategy

Five Guys Burgers & Fries, like many others, originated at a single location in Arlington, Virginia. It was founded by Jerry Murrell, his wife and their sons in 1986. The restaurant expanded across the Washington D.C. and Virginia area tremendously within a sixteen year span. In 2002 the sons (Matt, Jim, Chad, Ben and Tyler) convinced their farther to expand the business by way of franchising, which later led to its continuing success. Five Guys Burger and Fries has almost 1,000 locations across the country and a little over 483 billion dollars in sales revenue. (Inc, Mansueto Ventures, 2010)

Its mission statement is as simple as its menu which is “We are in the business of selling burgers.” (Byrne, 2012, para 5) Its goal is to sell the best quality burger possible. To sell the best burger possible, we must focus on Quality, Service, and Cleanliness. This aligns us around its philosophy that if you are going to sell hamburgers and fries in a restaurant industry that is crowded with hamburger-french-fries chains, you had better do hamburgers and french fries better than the competition.

Five Guys has a significant mission statement and goal but its mission statement alone that separates itself from some of its greatest competitors which consist of Burger King and McDonalds. For example, McDonald’s philosophy is to develop a collaborative approach with its suppliers in which there is a mutual win situation. (McDonalds, 2010, p.2) It believes in that strongly because that is a critical part of getting the products to the restaurants. I could only imagine how the brand would change if the products were not received on time or a change of taste. That particular philosophy works for McDonalds only because it tells its customers that the burgers are 100% beef and the chicken nuggets are 100% chicken but; often times speculations have come up about the quality of its food and how it constantly affects its consumer’s health. There has been other incidents where the...