10 Facts About Five Guys Every Fan Should Know

If you find yourself craving Five Guys every now and then, you're not alone. The fast casual chain has long been an American favorite. In 2017 and 2018, it beat names like In-N-Out, McDonald's, and Burger King to the top spot for a Harris Poll survey on the most beloved burger brands in the U.S. Seven years later, in 2025, it came in the top 10 for Yelp's Top 25 Burger Chains in the U.S. Five Guys sat at number seven in that particular poll, but it was still way ahead of other favorites like Carl's Jr. (which was awarded 23rd place) and Wendy's (which sat at 22nd).

In a nutshell: Millions of Americans love Five Guys. But what sets a true fan apart from the average customer? Knowledge. And by that, we mean fun facts, menu hacks, and random trivia. Fortunately, you can brush up on all of this below. If you've ever asked yourself things like, "Who are the five guys behind Five Guys, anyway?" and "Why do I have so many extra fries?" you've come to the right place.

If you lived through 1986, you probably remember it was one of the most eventful years of the decade. The Space Shuttle Challenger disintegrated. Microsoft went public. Mike Tyson won his first-ever world boxing title. Chernobyl.

Amidst all of this, like many Americans, Jerry and Janie Murrell were trying to live ordinary lives in northern Virginia. Their blended family had four sons, and the Murrells wanted them to do something meaningful with their lives. So, they gave the oldest three a choice: use the family money to start a business together, or go to college. Jim, Matt, and Chad Murrell picked the business option, and together, with $70,000, the Murrells opened their first-ever restaurant in Arlington, Virginia.

The restaurant, which they named Five Guys, wasn't exactly high-end, but it wasn't a fast-food joint either. It was just a small, simple, carry-out burger spot with no seats that ended up being pretty popular with the locals. The Murrells were ambitious, and they knew they could do more. By the end of the 1980s, there were two Five Guys restaurants, and by the early years of the 2000s, the family had opened five restaurants, complete with seating this time, in northern Virginia.

Every name has a story. Whataburger got its name because founder Harmon Dobson wanted customers to shout "What a burger!" every time they took a bite. Shake Shack was named after the fairground ride in "Grease." Wendy was the nickname of Wendy's founder Dave Thomas' daughter.

So what about Five Guys? Well, it's named after five guys, of course. Specifically, Jerry's five sons. There's Jim, Matt, and Chad from his previous marriage, and then the two sons he shares with Janie, Ben and Tyler. Each of the "guys" still has a role in the business, and Jerry credits his children with the chain's success. They started off flipping burgers and serving customers, but all went on to have more corporate roles in the business.

In fact, it was the brothers who convinced their father to franchise in the early 2000s. Today, the chain has more than 1,900 locations around the world (most of which are in the U.S.), and is worth more than $2 billion.

When the Murrells presented their sons with the option of college or starting a business, they had four sons. Tyler, the youngest, hadn't been born yet. At that time, Jerry counted himself as one of the five guys. But when Tyler came into the world, he was presented with a conundrum: exclude Tyler or change the name?

In the end, Jerry decided the best thing to do was to change the meaning of the name, which, let's be honest, is much easier than rebranding. He opted to remove himself from the equation and instead dedicate the name to all of his sons, making Tyler the fifth "guy" in the Five Guys brand.

The brothers are close, but they have openly acknowledged that it hasn't always been easy working together. In the early days, they used to fight and storm out of the restaurants, which is pretty standard for families working and living together. Things got a little easier when Five Guys started to expand, though, as they could still work together without being in such close proximity all the time.

Shaquille O'Neal is best known for his basketball career, and rightfully so. He's an NBA star and even won Olympic gold in the 1990s. But O'Neal isn't one to pigeonhole himself. He's also a pretty savvy businessman and has made millions by investing in franchises. He owns several Auntie Anne's Pretzel restaurants and has invested in a handful of Papa John's locations, too. Once, he owned 155 Five Guys restaurants, which at the time accounted for about 10% of the entire company. He has since sold his stake in the chain, though.

O'Neal was part of a pretty big club. Since the brothers pushed for it in the early 2000s, franchising has been central to the Five Guys business model. Data confirms that of the more than 1,550 Five Guys locations in the U.S. in 2024, around 945 of them were franchised.

Today, Five Guys is an international juggernaut. As well as North America, it has locations in Europe, Australia, the Middle East, and Asia. But while the chain was founded in the 1980s, Five Guys' global expansion didn't actually start until a few decades later.

The first Five Guys outside of the U.S. opened in Alberta, Canada, in 2010, and then the first Five Guys outside of North America opened in London three years later, in 2013. But it wasn't until 2015 that things really started to accelerate for Five Guys' international domination plans. In that year, it expanded to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ireland. In the early 2020s, it was still expanding into new markets, opening its first restaurant in Australia in 2021.

Five Guys is not planning to slow down anytime soon. At the end of 2025, it opened its 16th location in the United Arab Emirates, and in January 2026, it opened a brand new Las Vegas spot (complete with a full bar).

Five Guys has always been obsessive about the quality of its ingredients, even if it was to the detriment of its finances. Jerry Murrell explained to Restaurant Business in 2025, for example, that they used to get the meat for their hamburgers from a high-end restaurant supplier, and would often opt for branded condiments over private-label.

That obsessiveness about ingredient quality has become integral to the Five Guys ethos, even as it has grown astronomically. While many chains in the burger space, like McDonald's and Burger King, rely on frozen foods, Five Guys always makes everything fresh. In fact, its restaurants aren't even kitted out with freezers, that's how committed it is. It's not alone; several chains, including Wendy's and Domino's, pride themselves on using fresh ingredients. 

Instead, it works like this: Restaurants receive a delivery of fresh, vacuum-sealed ground meat, which is then shaped by hand into burgers every day. Each shipment lasts about three days in the fridge before it has to be disposed of. In the U.S., Five Guys' potatoes are shipped in from Idaho to ensure quality. In Europe, though, the chain utilizes more local suppliers for its produce. It pays very special attention to its proprietary buns, too; new batches are consistently baked five days a week, to ensure they're always fresh.

At first glance, the Five Guys menu looks pretty standard for a fast casual chain. There are a few different classic burger options, like cheeseburgers, bacon burgers, and hamburgers; a few sandwiches, including a grilled cheese and a vegetable-only option; hot dogs; milkshakes; and fries, of course, served either standard or Cajun-style. But actually, there is far more variety than you might immediately assume. In fact, according to Five Guys, there are actually around 250,000 topping combinations for its burgers and sandwiches.

We don't have time to list all of the combinations, of course, but we scanned Reddit to get an idea of the kind of topping mixes customers are going for. One user said their favorite combination was a bacon cheeseburger with grilled mushrooms, onions, mayonnaise, and barbecue sauce. Another said they like to recreate the Burger King Whopper with a Five Guys twist by asking for raw onions, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup, and tomato. 

Someone also said that while the veggie sandwich as standard is pretty basic, if you load it up with lettuce, tomatoes, grilled jalapeños, barbecue sauce, hot sauce, and pickles, it becomes significantly more exciting. If you're feeling extra, you can also use some of the extra toppings from your burger to make your own loaded fries. 

Another tip for when you're experimenting with your Five Guys order? Don't sleep on the secret menu. Like at many chains, it's possible for customers to make several unique, off-menu requests at Five Guys. 

A few examples of the best "secret menu" items people have ordered at the chain include a grilled cheeseburger (for this one, just ask for two grilled cheeses and two Little Burgers, and then toss the extra buns and make one giant burger with the grilled cheeses as the new buns); a burger bowl (it's a burger without the bun in a bowl, topped with all the toppings you please); and a vegetarian BLT. The latter just involves asking for the BLT, but with grilled mushrooms instead of the bacon. 

All of that said, it's not guaranteed that the Five Guys employee you're ordering from will actually make what you're asking for. But if you don't try, you'll never know. One tip from a worker on Reddit? Don't ask for an elaborate secret menu order if the restaurant is busy; you're far more likely to get a yes if the staff aren't already rushed off their feet.

Don't be shy when it comes to experimenting with your toppings at Five Guys, as you can actually add up to 15 for no extra charge. On top of this, you can also ask for extra bacon on your burger, and you'll usually get it for free. This only applies if you're actually ordering in the restaurant, though; it won't work if you're ordering through a delivery app, for example.

For some, this helps make up for the fact that, when compared with many other popular burger chains in the U.S., Five Guys is pretty expensive. In 2025, for example, a picture of a receipt listing a bacon cheeseburger, a regular soda, and fries for more than $20 went viral. According to Jerry Murrell, the high prices at Five Guys reflect the costs it pays to its own suppliers. When these costs go up (which, at the time of writing, has been happening a lot lately, due to a challenging economic climate), then this ultimately gets passed on to the consumer. 

So, this is all to say that if you're craving Five Guys and you're prepared to spend the money for it, don't skip out on getting as many freebies as you can. Bacon, lettuce, tomato, mushrooms, hot sauce, onions — the lot.

Speaking of freebies, another thing you can always expect at Five Guys is extra fries. The chain prides itself on the quality of its fries, which are meticulously prepared every day in each of its restaurants. The potatoes (sourced from Idaho, as we mentioned earlier) are carefully washed, sliced into fries, and soaked in more water to remove excess starch.

After this, the fries are then cooked in peanut oil (twice) for one very important reason: It improves the taste and texture. "We call our fry cooks mad scientists," Chad Murrell told Food Republic in 2016, before adding that the peanut oil gives them a "melt-in-your-mouth buttery taste." Before serving, the fries are shaken to get rid of any excess grease, sprinkled with salt, tossed, and then handed out to customers in generous portions. 

With all of that in mind, it's no surprise that Five Guys wants you to really, really enjoy its fries. The chain says it's a tradition that every customer gets an extra scoop. Want more freebies? Five Guys also gives out free peanuts, too.