Entrepreneurial Leadership

Assignment 1: Entrepreneurial Leadership

Jerri L. Newton

Professor Etta Steed

BUS 508 – Contemporary Business

27 October 2013

Determine how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other fast-food chains.

Jerry and Janie Murrell, the founders of Five Guys’, believed that in order to compete with large and well-established fast food chains, they would have to concentrate on the quality of their product and the satisfaction of their customers. In his own words, Jerry Murrell business plan was simple – “Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fires. Don’t cut corners.” (Wiley Plus Resources, 2012).

“They sought out the best ingredients — paying top price for meat, getting a renowned local bakery to bake their rolls, buying the most expensive bacon — and decided they would cook only in peanut oil, which cost five times as much as the oil other burger restaurants were using.” (Joiner, 2012). Five Guys’ always uses fresh never frozen burgers, they felt freshens is the key to a juicy burger. They only use potatoes from Idaho because the weather conditions there allow farmers to grow a solid and tasty potato at a much slow pace in contract to potatoes grown in California or Florida, which grow faster and are cheaper. The Murrell’s are willing to pay more for their potatoes and refuse to use anything but the best.

Most fast food chains serve dehydrated froze fries but Five Guys does not. They cut their fries fresh every morning with slivers of skin left intact. They use a twice-fried process that allows the fry to form a seal so the fries don’t absorb any oil and are never greasy.

Every burger at Five Guys’ is cooked to order and has 17 toppings available for each burger. The made to order process may take a little longer for customers to receive their burger, however customers have come to appreciate this process.

Analyze the original values for the start-up company and how it remains strong today.

Five Guys’ believes that...