The Story Behind “Five Guys”

Jerry Murrell is the founder and CEO of the popular burger restaurant Five Guys which has grown into a billion dollar business, and it all started with Murrell knowing how to grill a burger and fry potatoes.

Jerry Murrell (far right) and his five sons

Murrell is from a small mining town in Michigan and worked as a financial planner for the start of his professional career. He tried a couple side-hustles, small business ideas that he did on the side of his real job, but none of them worked out. In the mid-80s, 1986 to be exact, Murrell and his five sons opened up their first burger joint in Arlington, Virginia. Murrell was inspired by a burger joint in his hometown owned by a man who went by “Push ‘em up” Tony, whose restaurant always had lines out the door.

Murrell thought that he could do the same, but didn’t want to invest a lot of money upfront on the off chance that the business didn’t work out. The family put in $35,000, including money from his sons’ college funds, to start the business, not knowing what would come of it. Much to Murrell’s surprise, the restaurant attracted lines of customers and soon enough, he would be able to quit his regular job to focus on the burger business. Although the business model was different from other fast food restaurants, the wait for food was longer and the food was more expensive, the quality of the food and the ingredients outweighed the downsides.

As the business grew Murrell opened more stores with the support of investors, and in the late 90s, Murrell’s sons convinced him to franchise the business, which allowed more stores to open up around the country. Murrell also opened joint ventures in other countries, including the UK, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, and countries in the Middle East.

(This maps shows all the Five Guys locations in the US as of 2018)

Murrell says he doesn’t know how he became so successful, and thinks that he and his family just got lucky. What Murrell does know is that as long as you know how to grill a burger and fry potatoes, you’ll be good. As of 2017, Five Guys is at upwards of $2 billion in revenue, and is continuing to grow.

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