‘We made a mistake’: How US burger chain Five Guys is slow-cooking its way to success

Every international burger brand looking to crack the Australian market, according to US burger chain Five Guys’ head of Australian operations Phil Keelan, has an inevitable initial crash.

“Everyone has had it. We’ve had it,” Keelan says. “We made a mistake, and I’m happy to openly, honestly say this: we opened Penrith, 70 kilometres out of Sydney.

“It’s a standalone restaurant; no one walking past the front doors. You have to make a conscious decision to go: ‘I want Five Guys’.”

Phil Keelan, Five Guys Australia head of operations, and Joel Bearden, marketing vice president, at the newly opened Martin Place Metro outlet. Credit: Louise Kennerley

Monday marks the official opening day of Five Guys’ fifth local outlet, which sits inside Sydney’s Martin Place Metro (directly opposite McDonald’s). For a chain that has built a cult following for its vivid red and white American diner decor and has more than 1400 stores in America and more than 200 internationally, the burger chain’s Australian expansion has, until recently, been more of a simmer.

Martin Place’s opening comes more than three years after Penrith opened in September 2021. Penrith remains Five Guys’ only suburban store; while its opening attracted queues for weeks, the ending of COVID lockdowns drew everyone back towards the CBD. Five Guys’ other four stores are all in central Melbourne and Sydney, where there is high foot traffic from locals and tourists.

The plan is to build “critical mass” in the nation’s two most populous cities before moving to Brisbane or Newcastle, where Five Guys has received pleas from fans to set up a presence.

Where rival burger chain Wendy’s, famous for its square patties, has declared intentions to open 200 stores by 2034, Five Guys is targeting 25 stores by around 2030.

“When a brand [is] in its infancy, it’s very hard to get market penetration,” says Keelan. “We have taken a slower approach to open the right location at the right time. We believe that’s going to stick with us in good stead as we move forward.”

DIY milkshakes are a core part of the Five Guys’ brand.Credit: Louise Kennerley

Despite the chain’s global fan base, the team is aware they are building the brand from scratch in an Australian market that has at times shown resistance to US operations. Getting people through the door is the first step; the next one is keeping them inside.

In a competitive and crowded burger market, Five Guys has sought to differentiate itself on two key pillars: freshness of ingredients and a unique pricing structure.

Five Guys works with local producers to build out supply chains in each market. There are no freezers or microwaves; burger buns are baked fresh and delivered four times a week. Sourcing the potatoes (Dutch Innovator) was a whole operation unto itself.

“McDonald’s had a monopoly on the market,” Keelan says. Five Guys has to order potatoes three years in advance to guarantee supply from local farmers; fries are hand-cut every day and double-fried. The mayonnaise recipe is manufactured by Heinz but developed exclusively for Five Guys with a higher fat content.

At $19.99 for a cheeseburger (two patties) or $16.90 for a “little cheeseburger” (one patty), it’s priced on the more premium end. Built into the price is unlimited access to a range of 15 toppings.

Not everyone is familiar with the concept. “I see it happen all the time in Europe,” says Bearden, who is visiting Sydney for the Martin Place store opening. “People will come up, they’ll look in the shop window, and they’ll see the prices, and they’ll turn around and walk off.”

The hyper-customisation strategy means cashiers can struggle to make recommendations; there is no “signature burger”. “We don’t do it,” says Bearden. “The unique thing is whatever you create.”

Five Guys differentiates its offer by emphasising freshness and hyper-customisation of its burgers and milkshakes.

There is evident pride in the fact that Five Guys’ menu has remained virtually unchanged since it was founded nearly four decades ago. The flip side is that the chain is very strict, to the point of inflexibility, about what goes on the menu, which is identical in every country. It took 18 years for milkshakes to be added, and chicken, an affordable and popular protein in nearly every fast-food chain, is not an option.

The stringent playbook presents an interesting challenge in many global markets. On the one hand, the DIY concept means customers get the burger they want every time; on the other, there’s next to no room to accommodate local palates. Australians are a discerning lot and tend to eschew the more-is-more approach, says Bearden. They also love beetroot, but that’s something else you won’t find on the menu.

“I can tell you, from my perspective, everybody that works in Five Guys initially wants to change us,” he says. “Basically, I’m Mr No.”

On top of this, Five Guys relies heavily on word of mouth and social media to generate buzz. It doesn’t do traditional advertising; the walls of the outlets are lined with newspaper and magazine spreads and quotes. Food photography has historically been banned.

“There is no marketing [strategy],” says Bearden. “I have to be very creative in terms of how we get the word out there, oftentimes.”

So why not add chicken or beetroot? Where is the line drawn, given milkshakes have clearly been a successful addition? “It goes back to the family,” he says. “They still call the shots.”

Five Guys was founded as a mum-and-pop business by Jerry and Janie Murrell in 1986 in Arlington County, Virginia, who offered their sons money to either go to college or start a business. Jerry and his four sons, Jim, Matt, Chad and Ben, are the so-called “five guys”, with a fifth son, Tyler, joining the family later.

The family remains heavily involved in the business and signs off on key decisions. Juggling the tension between preserving the brand and leaving room to keep up with fast-food trends is part of the job, says Bearden, and the challenge, given new and limited edition menu items, is often a key social media and sales driver.

Keelan and Bearden seem keen to flirt with the boundaries and to play into beloved Australian flavours. “Can we bring in a Tim Tam milkshake? Can I bring in a Vegemite milkshake?” Keelan mused. Bearden is toying with the idea of a milkshake truck as a pop-up at a festival.

“Until we’ve got 20 stores across the east coast, we haven’t penetrated the market enough,” says Keelan.

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