Five Guys

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Five Guys

Post by storewanderer »

I wonder what is happening with Five Guys. The chain seems to be on a downward projectory with fewer stores opening. Prices seem to be increasing in their locations much more often than competitors. I would never go to this place if it were up to me but sometimes I still end up there due to others choices. Lately here in Reno I am frustrated that the cost of a meal is for a "little bacon burger," "little fries" and small drink about $12.50. I thought that was pretty terrible pricing. Last week I priced out that meal at a Five Guys in Roseville, CA and no way in heck was I paying that price for that after I found that same meal described above meal cost a whopping $15.30 or so (highlights include fries over $4 and the drink at like $2.85 or some weird amount).

That lousy iced "tea" they serve from the Gold Peak dispenser isn't worth 28 cents let alone $2.85. With these prices you would think they could spring for actual brewed tea.

It also strikes me every Five Guys I go into is sloppy with sloppy employees. I am under the impression these are franchise operators paying employees minimum wage and trying to make their business model work by having extremely high prices and paying low.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by Super S »

storewanderer wrote: January 7th, 2019, 7:59 pm I wonder what is happening with Five Guys. The chain seems to be on a downward projectory with fewer stores opening. Prices seem to be increasing in their locations much more often than competitors. I would never go to this place if it were up to me but sometimes I still end up there due to others choices. Lately here in Reno I am frustrated that the cost of a meal is for a "little bacon burger," "little fries" and small drink about $12.50. I thought that was pretty terrible pricing. Last week I priced out that meal at a Five Guys in Roseville, CA and no way in heck was I paying that price for that after I found that same meal described above meal cost a whopping $15.30 or so (highlights include fries over $4 and the drink at like $2.85 or some weird amount).

That lousy iced "tea" they serve from the Gold Peak dispenser isn't worth 28 cents let alone $2.85. With these prices you would think they could spring for actual brewed tea.

It also strikes me every Five Guys I go into is sloppy with sloppy employees. I am under the impression these are franchise operators paying employees minimum wage and trying to make their business model work by having extremely high prices and paying low.
Five Guys is a restaurant that I don't think of often, mainly because their closest location is located in a strip mall where the closest parking area is small and often full. Their food is OK but spendy.

They seemed to be popping up everywhere in the Pacific Northwest for a while, but growth has slowed.

I do find it interesting how they almost pointlessly advertise that same location (the Triangle Center in Longview, WA) on the freeway sign on I-5 southbound near exit 40, but is actually nowhere near the freeway, and along the way there is a McDonald's, Taco Bell, Burgerville, Taco Time (not advertised on the sign), as well as a couple local restaurants, that are all much easier to spot. In fact, the only thing right off that freeway exit is a middle school. Plus there are a lot of choices at the next exit (39).
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Re: Five Guys

Post by Brian Lutz »

When Five Guys opened here I would visit the ones in Renton and Bellevue on occasion. I thought there were better burgers elsewhere, but prices were semi-reasonable, and they do have good fries. Since then, their prices have gone way up, which puts them firmly into sit-down burger territory, and there's just no reason to bother with Five Guys when you can get Red Robin for the same price. On top of that, there's also better options for much cheaper (my current go-to burger would be Burgermaster, a small Seattle-based chain of mostly drive-in locations) so it's been quite some time since I've been to a Five Guys.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by arizonaguy »

Brian Lutz wrote: January 8th, 2019, 7:30 am When Five Guys opened here I would visit the ones in Renton and Bellevue on occasion. I thought there were better burgers elsewhere, but prices were semi-reasonable, and they do have good fries. Since then, their prices have gone way up, which puts them firmly into sit-down burger territory, and there's just no reason to bother with Five Guys when you can get Red Robin for the same price. On top of that, there's also better options for much cheaper (my current go-to burger would be Burgermaster, a small Seattle-based chain of mostly drive-in locations) so it's been quite some time since I've been to a Five Guys.
I haven't eaten at a Five Guys in about 4-5 years. There is one very close to my house and my wife went there a month ago and was shocked at their pricing.

I never quite understood all of the hype around Five Guys in the first place. It's better than your typical Burger King, Wendy's, or McDonald's burger but it's nothing special.

I prefer Smashburger or the Habit to Five Guys (and Smashburger and the Habit have better prices).
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Re: Five Guys

Post by storewanderer »

arizonaguy wrote: January 8th, 2019, 1:40 pm
Brian Lutz wrote: January 8th, 2019, 7:30 am When Five Guys opened here I would visit the ones in Renton and Bellevue on occasion. I thought there were better burgers elsewhere, but prices were semi-reasonable, and they do have good fries. Since then, their prices have gone way up, which puts them firmly into sit-down burger territory, and there's just no reason to bother with Five Guys when you can get Red Robin for the same price. On top of that, there's also better options for much cheaper (my current go-to burger would be Burgermaster, a small Seattle-based chain of mostly drive-in locations) so it's been quite some time since I've been to a Five Guys.
I haven't eaten at a Five Guys in about 4-5 years. There is one very close to my house and my wife went there a month ago and was shocked at their pricing.

I never quite understood all of the hype around Five Guys in the first place. It's better than your typical Burger King, Wendy's, or McDonald's burger but it's nothing special.

I prefer Smashburger or the Habit to Five Guys (and Smashburger and the Habit have better prices).
When Five Guys and Smashburger first appeared out west (was at about the same time) they seemed to have pretty similar pricing. I do not know what Five Guys is doing with pricing (talk about greedy), but Smashburger has not escalated its pricing even close to the way Five Guys has. Smashburger seems to be a much better product. Habit is a personal favorite of mine; excellent value for the price and strong execution since they are mostly corporate owned sites (the franchise ones I've been to in Nevada are a bit "off" but still pretty good).
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Re: Five Guys

Post by rwsandiego »

When I ate at Five Guys the price seemed too high and I didn’t like the burger. Wendy’s has better burgers than they do. Smashburger is great and so is The Habit.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by buckguy »

Five guys is a franchise and they don't seem to make much of an effort to insure a reasonably consistent experience. This even is true in the DC area where they began and was true here even before their big national expansion.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by Jeff »

Five guys is always compared to In-N-Out, and while I admit I do like the choices on occasion and the fries at Five Guys better, I can buy In-N-Out for two for the price of one combo at Five Guys. I also like Habit and their prices are much better, usually 2 combos in the 16-20 range depending on the item.

On a side note, I have a Five Guys within walking distance of my work. Ive been there 3 times in 3 years and every year it seems like prices have gone up a buck.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by cjd »

My experience sounds about like the rest of you. Five Guys opened here about 2012 in a former FIrehouse Subs.

I went a few times with friends when it first opened, they all liked it, but I didn't really care for the burgers or fries. Too greasy and food just seemed soggy to me and not very tasty for the price. Back then I don't remember the prices but it surely wasn't $12.50.

I haven't been in about 6 years so I don't know about the pricing now, but they don't seem to do much business compared to when it first opened. I usually don't pay much attention since it's in a strip mall without much else to draw traffic, but the lot always looks empty. It is a little odd though, since there's really no competitive burger restaurants here. All we have is McD, BK, Wendys, Checkers and Sonic.

I don't care much for McD's or BK burgers but I would rather go to Wendy's than Five Guys, esp given the pricing.
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Re: Five Guys

Post by Andrew T. »

Back when I lived in Madison WI, there were two Five Guys locations at my disposal. One was a downtown restaurant housed in an old building on the State Street pedestrian strip, with plenty of aesthetic charm and brisk foot traffic from the university. It was good. The other restaurant was housed in a generic building adjacent to a suburban power centre. It was...not good. This location had no aesthetic appeal and seemed completely incongruous. Every time I stepped inside, it was blasting shrill, ear-splitting music at such a loud volume that it made me want to turn around and leave. And the food quality was a notch down, too.

What about the food? The burgers were delicious (at least at the "good" location), I liked how each one was made exactly the way the customer wanted it, and I liked how I wasn't obligated to pay for cheese (I hate cheeseburgers, and avoid chains like Wendy's that smother cheese over everything by default). The fries on the other hand were absolutely awful, and I only tried them once...which was just as well, since the burger alone was enough to fill my gut and empty my wallet.
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