Five Guys Famous Burgers and Fries, a little joint with all the charm of an RFK Stadium bathroom. The walls are tiled red and white. The floor is a cement slab, covered with peanut shells. The music — Kiss — is too loud. And the burgers are flying off the grill, wrapped in aluminum foil, stuffed in greasy brown bags and handed to real estate agents, bankers, UPS drivers, physical therapists, cops, lawyers and women with freshly painted nails.”This is a good old-fashioned American hamburger, like the kind my mom used to make,” said Zier, pausing between bites of her cheeseburger. She is married to Bennett Zier, who heads Daniel Snyder’s new Red Zebra Broadcasting venture.
“I mean, look at my mom — she’s just eaten that whole burger.” And her nails still look fabulous.
Four years ago, before franchising, Five Guys was just a little family burger operation with five locations and a steady, if cultish following, in Northern Virginia. Today the business is by some estimates heading toward $1 billion in value. Five Guys has 87 locations. Most are in the Washington region, but a hundred more will open along the East Coast this year, and another thousand are being phased in. Each store, the company says, pulls in about $1 million a year.
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