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Author:M. Azim Ulfati
Introduction
In this paper
I WILL Determine how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other
fast-food chains. I will then analyze the original values for the start-up
company and how it remains strong today. I will enumerate three (3) factors
that contributed to Five Guys’ success in such a short time and what effect, if
any, external markets had on these factors. I will lastly assess how ethical
and social practices are part of the Five Guys’ culture and provide examples to
support your choices.
Determine
how Five Guys’ philosophy sets it apart from other fast-food chains
The Five Guys Burger and Fries restaurant
chain originally began with a single location in Arlington, VA within
Washington DC, Metropolitan Area in 1986.
Competition regulates much of economic life in the United
States of America. Five guys burger and fries successfully compete and has
found the basis for competitive differentiation, the unparalleled and unique
combination of organizational abilities, products and approaches that sets five
guys burger and fries a part from other chains in the minds of customer.
When you
enter the five guys burger and fries, you start to feel that five guys burger
and fries philosophy really sets it a part from other fast food chains. It
starts from the Mission Statement,
Goal, and Service Promise of Five Guys Burgers and Fries, which is
aligned with a philosophy of, sell hamburgers and French fries in a restaurant
industry better than any one else. And be in the business of selling of burgers
expand and sell the best quality burgers possible. More focus on quality,
service and cleanliness.
It starts from considering business
ethics, the standards of conduct and moral value, the actions, decisions,
policies and procedures of employees in the work environment.
When you are at the restaurant you see the
great management, developed and sophisticated systems through which certain
goods such as food board with fixed prices, names, beverage machines, chairs,
tables, trash cans, cooking equipment are all placed neatly in certain
locations. You notice a sign that hangs on the beverage machine at every five
guys restaurants, which can be referred to as a mission statement but is really
more of a service promise. They value the customer as the most important
visitor in their premises, not an outsider in their business but part of it.
When
you order your food at the counter from a variety of selected food board menu.
You can choose, Hamburger
for $4.39, Bacon cheeseburger for $5.69, Little hamburger for $3.39, Little
cheeseburger for $3.89, Little bacon burger for $3.89., Kosher-style hot dog
for $2.89., Cheese dog for $3.39, Bacon cheese dog for $3.89, Fries, plain or
Cajun-style, regular size for $2.49; large for $4.19, Veggie sandwich for
$2.49, Grilled cheese for $2.49 and have the choice with 15 free toppings of
catsup, lettuce, pickles, onions, mushroom, cheese, tomato, jalapenos and hot sauce.
The vegetables are all fresh. You can see the
employees are trust worthy. You can see them. They wear gloves while making
food and are clean and tidy with nice attire. They follow the health issues
carefully.
Patty burgers are all fresh. They do not use
the frozen meat. The potatoes are all fresh for the French fries. When you are
waiting for your food, you can have free roasted peanuts on the side and until
your food comes out. They give every customer a receipt number for the order of
their food and when the food gets ready the employees bring the food on the
table with happy face.
There are two types of French
fries. One is seasoning French fries and the second one is regular French fries
and they come in two sizes, large one and small one. The French fries comes in
small and large cups. The large cup is enough for three people to eat. The food
is put in a nice paper wrap and then in a basket neatly. When it comes to the
drinking part. They have brought new beverage machines. They are all in one
box. There are like about 20 kinds of drinks for your selection. All the drinks
have their names and you push the button for drinks.
It demonstrates
that five guys burgers and fries chains are unique for meeting and satisfying
the needs and demands of the consumers.
Let’s
not remain unsaid that the concept is similar to fast food. Orders are taken at
a counter and picked up several minutes later at a second counter, with a menu
limited to several types of burgers, hot dogs, fries and soft drinks. The
difference between Five Guys and your average Burger King or McDonalds is in
the execution. The open kitchen insures that diners can watch their selection
being made, all toppings are free, and the fries are cut fresh and fried in small
batches.
You can Watch your
sandwich being made, the fries are where this chain really excels. They may be
more time consuming to prepare than those of their fast food counterparts, but
are delicious and certainly worth the effort and the wait.
The assembly line is efficient but
those fresh fries take time. The restaurant's veggie sandwich is different from
what you might expect. Instead of a frozen Garden burger or Boca patty, the
sandwich consists of a bun and as many of the free toppings as you wish, all
for $2.69. Vegetarians will be happy to know that the Five Guys policy is to
keep the grilling stations for vegetables and meats separate, so those grilled
onions and mushrooms are worry-free. If a bun filled with veggies doesn't appeal,
the restaurant also offers the tried and true grilled cheese.
Orders are bagged, regardless of
dine-in or carryout. Something to keep in mind with the fries: employees throw
in an extra scoop when bagging them up, so a "regular" order (the
smallest they offer) is easily enough for two people.
Unpack your bag of goodies.
Vegetarians can't go wrong with the veggie sandwich. It's a flavorsome but very
messy affair, and the pile of napkins stuffed into the bag was saturated by the
time I was finished eating. Oddly, my hands smelled of the meal for the rest of
the day, even after repeated washings.
("Five guys burgers," 2009)
Tastes better than it looks. It is refreshing
that more fast food restaurants are starting to cater to the vegetarian diner,
and kudos to Five Guys for making it affordable. They aren't going to top
Subway for vegetarian-friendly, healthy fare, but as an occasional caloric
splurge it's pretty darned tasty.
("Five guys burgers," 2009)
Analyze the original values for the start up company and how
it remains strong today
The
Five Guys Burger and Fries restaurant chain originally began with a single
location in Arlington, VA within Washington DC, Metropolitan Area in 1986.
Jerry Murrell and four of his sons for the purpose of selling French fries,
hamburgers and hot dogs opened it. Today the "five guys" that lead
the chain are the five Murrell brothers, Matt, Jim, Chad, Ben, and Tyler.(“Five
guys burger,”) It started from one restaurant and grew to 1,000 restaurant
franchises in the United States of America and Canada with all values of
respect to customers and co workers through great management, better customer
service, great quality food, variety of food and great quantity of food.
I
believe that in every business there are both demand and supply market which
they are important elements. For any business to succeed, management must
carefully monitor the success that may affect demand for the good and services,
it hopes to sell and same with supply. Supply is driven by a number of factors
in five guys burgers and fries that how five guys’ burger and fries are willing
to proeevide goods and services. They usually buy and use natural resources
like fresh vegetables, capital like sophisticated beverage machines, cooking
ware, communication tools and physical facilities, human resources like well
trained employees, great managers and executives and entrepreneurship like
developing the franchise business, investing on food and competition in
different markets.
Demand is also driven by a number of factors in different types of
structures in a free enterprise system that include customer preferences, the
number of buyers and their incomes, the prices of substitute foods, the price
of complementary food and consumer expectations about the future. Five guys
burger and fries has been able to meet the demands of its customer since its
opening up to present therefore the demand curve graph for five guys burger and
fries has gone up except that this family business tried to experiment coffee
and chicken on the side of burger and fries one time but unfortunately it was
not successful then they removed those two from the business. Now this is the
fastest growing business and developing franchises all over the United States
and Canada because of its well trained employees, customer service and fresh
food with the best quality and quantity. It has taken 70% up from the previous
year,
Today Five Guys serves
over 250 thousand burgers each day offer 15 free toppings with each. Depending
on appetite, customers can order the hamburger, cheeseburger, bacon burger, and
bacon cheeseburger in regular (two patties) or little (one patty) size. Don't
be mistaken; the little burger is not little at all. (Ashley , 2010)
Toppings include the
typical lettuce, tomato, mustard, and ketchup as well as mayo, pickles, onion,
grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, relish, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, A-1
sauce, BBQ sauce, and hot sauce. Burgers are made to order hot and fresh every
time. (Ashley, 2010)
Though burgers are its
specialty, Five Guys' menu also includes a kosher-style hot dog, cheese or
bacon dog, bacon cheese dog, and a veggie or grilled cheese sandwich. Fries are
cooked in pure, no cholesterol, and peanut oil. (Ashley, 2010)
Enumerate
three (3) factors that contributed to Five Guys’ success in such a short time
and what effect, if any, external markets had on these factors
In
my idea the three factors that contributed and played an important role to five
guys success in a short time are concentration on the quality of natural
resources (food and Restaurant locations), capital (quantity of food, prices of
food, tool and technology), human resources and entrepreneurship (customer
services). Following is few examples of these factors.
A
Recipe for Success (Concentration on quality of natural resources)
Sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French
fries. Don’t cut corners. That’s been the business plan since Jerry Murrell and
his sons opened Five Guys Burgers and Fries in 1986. Today, there are 570
stores across the U.S. and Canada, with 2009 sales of $483 million. Though we
weren’t able to coax out his secret recipe, Murrell shares with us five things
that helped him expand one lone burger joint into a national franchise. ("5 reasons why,”)
The Best Salesman is the Customer (human resources and
entrepreneurship)
"Treat that person right, he’ll walk out the door and sell for
you," Murrell says. "From the beginning, I wanted people to know that
we put all our money into the food. That’s why the décor is so simple – red and
white tiles. We don’t spend our money on décor. Or on guys in chicken suits.
But we’ll go overboard on food."
("5 reasons why,")
Every Position at the Company Has Value (human resources and
entrepreneurship)
Murrell says it is important to make employee feel a sense of
ownership—and accountability. "Boys hate to smile. It’s not macho. And
it’s definitely not macho to clean a bathroom," he says of some employees.
To motivate them, Five Guys employs secret shoppers called auditors, and ties
pay to performance. "If the auditor walks in and the bathroom isn’t clean,
that crew just lost money," Murrell says. "Next thing he knows, the
guy who was supposed to clean the bathroom has toilet paper all over his car
and a potato in his pipe."
("5 reasons why," )
Know what you’re
Good at – and Stick With It (natural resources)
"When we first started, people asked for coffee," Murrell
says. "We thought, Why not? This was our first lesson in humility. We
served coffee, but the problem was that the young kids working for us don’t
know anything about coffee. It was terrible! We tried a chicken sandwich once,
but that did not work, either. We do have hot dogs on our menu, and that works.
But other than that, all you are going to get from Five Guys is hamburgers and
fries." ("5 reasons
why," )
Quality Is Everything (natural resources)
"The magic to our
hamburgers is quality control," Murrell says. "We toast our buns on a
grill – a bun toaster is faster, cheaper, and toasts more evenly, but it
doesn’t give you that caramelized taste. Our beef is 80 percent lean, never
frozen, and our plants are so clean, you could eat off the floor. The burgers
are made to order. That’s why we can’t do drive-thru’s – it takes too long. We
had a sign: “If you’re in a hurry, there are a lot of really good hamburger
places within a short distance from here.” People thought I was nuts. But the
customers appreciated it."
("5 reasons why," )
Employee Incentives Go a Long Way (capital and human
resources)
"A lot of companies
put 3 percent of their revenue toward marketing or advertising," Murrell
notes. In contrast, Five Guys will collect "1.5 percent from all our
franchisees and give bonuses to the crews that score the highest on our weekly
third-party audits. The crews make about $8 or $9 an hour. If they get a good
score, they will split another $1,000 among them, usually five or six people
per crew. Last year, we paid out between $7 million and $8 million; this year,
it will be $11 million or $12 million."
("5 reasons why,”)
Assess
how ethical and social practices are part of the Five Guys’ culture and provide
examples to support your choices
I
believe that executives of five guys and it’s employees demonstrate ethical
behavior in their actions and they are personally committed to the core values
of the restaurant. They demonstrate and practice great moral codes at work and
society in their character through, using clear, explicit language, honesty,
doing what is right and do every thing responsibly. For instance when you order
food at the counter the employee of restaurant behave with smile and happy face
or when they bring the food for you.
It
seems like family home when you are there, you feel like you are at home.
Employees are all friendly; they are not racist and rude. For example, when you
order food or have food there. They treat you equally with respect like every
one else, no matter where you are from, what your nationality or religion is,
what your race or color are.
Conclusion
As competition regulates much of economic life in the United States of
America therefore five guys burger and fries successfully compete and has found
the basis for competitive differentiation, the unique or unparalleled
combination of organizational abilities, products and approaches that sets five
guys burger and fries a apart from other chains in the minds of customer.
The five guys burger and fries are progressing has shown that they think
ahead of time to keep up and compete in business world based on focusing and
considering important economic factors which affect supply and ability of the
restaurant to provide the best quality and quantity foods and services at
different prices among the variety of their food. This is all because this
business functions in a private enterprise system where it determines how goods
and services are produced in a society and also determines patterns of resource
use to meet and serve the needs and demands of customers not only through food
and services but also through standards of conducts, ethics and values of
different culture, ethical awareness, reasoning, actions and leadership and
social responsibility, management, profit, consumer satisfaction and societal
well being. Those are all the requirements for success in today’s business
environment and these that you can find in five guys burger and fries.
References
(n.d.). 5 reasons why five guys is a big success. Retrieved
from
(n.d.). Five guys burgers and fries. Menu, Retrieved
from