The Ledger
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Murrell: Five Guys sold 3,500 U.S. franchises within two years
“And I think within a year and a half, or two years, we sold 3500. We sold the whole United States.”
Five Guys refined its restaurant model for 17 years before franchising
“Most franchisers start off to franchise. We didn't start off to franchise. We had no idea we were going to do that. We started off to build a family business, and we put 17 years into it, and we figured out how to do it right. So when it came time to franchisi…”
Five Guys sold 3,500 U.S. franchise locations within two years
“And I think within a year and a half, or two years, we sold 3500. We sold the whole United States.”
Murrell: Five Guys opened its first location with just $35,000
“Our first story put 35,000 dollars in it.”
Murrell: Five Guys was profitable from its very first day
“And we made money from our very first day, and we were breaking even, and we were paying our rent.”
Murrell: Five Guys' original potato supplier is now a multimillionaire
“Now he's become a multimillionaire because we buy all our potatoes from him.”
Murrell: Five Guys initially paid seven times McDonald's price for buns
“We were paying about seven times For a hamburger bun as McDonald's was then.”
Murrell: Five Guys has built ~1,400 stores and sold out all US territory
“We've got about 1400 of them built out now, but all the territory in the United States is gone.”
Five Guys corporate owns roughly 450 US stores and 50% of 60 European stores
“Out of the, out of about 14, 1500 restaurants, we have a joint venture in Great Britain and France and Germany where we own With our partner, half. That's about 60 stores. And then over here, we own about 450 out of the 1400.”
Jerry Murrell launched the first Five Guys in 1986 with $35,000
“Our first throw, we put 35,000 dollars in.”
Five Guys broke even and was profitable from its first day
“And we made money from our very first day, and we were breaking even, and we were paying our rent.”
An exclusive potato contract made an Idaho farmer a multimillionaire
“A guy named Rick Miles was a small potato dealer out there, so we got a hold of him. And we said, would you sell us potatoes? We did not know at the time that he was small. Now he's become a multimillionaire because we buy all our potatoes from him.”
Five Guys paid seven times more for hamburger buns than McDonald's
“We were paying about seven times for a hamburger bun as McDonald's was then.”
Five Guys priced early burgers three times higher than McDonald's
“I think we were selling something for like three times, four times what McDonald's was selling for, which everybody said we were crazy, we wouldn't make it that way, but we didn't let the kids know how much we were paying for any of the food.”
High school friends who bought early Five Guys stock became millionaires
“When I started Five Guys, I let three or four of my buddies that I went to high school with buy stock in my company, because I thought it would be a great thing for them, because they didn't have money. A little bit, they had a little bit of money, but not muc…”