DeRusha Eats: Five Guys
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- We are in the era of the burger. Top chefs obsess over their versions. Fast-casual restaurants are opening left and right celebrating the beef. None of them are growing as quickly as Five Guys.
"I hate to put my finger on one thing, but the concept stays focused," Ryan Dussault, owner of the Twin Cities Five Guys franchises, said.
Five Guys opened its first Twin Cities location in Edina in April 2009. Now there are a dozen spots, with plans for a new restaurant in downtown Minneapolis on Nicollet Mall.
"It's gone by quickly. It's crazy to think we're at our twelfth store here, in seven years," he said.
Dussault's background in not in restaurants; it's in tennis. He was a D-III All-American at Gustavus Adolphus, and a tennis pro who coached dozens of world class players.
"I was not in the industry, which Five Guys actually preferred. Because I didn't come in with some predetermined ideas of how burgers and fries are supposed to be made," he said.
Five Guys is one of the fastest growing restaurant concepts in the industry. In 1986, the Murrell brothers opened a location in Arlington, Virginia. After a couple years, they had five restaurants in the Washington, D.C. area, and the original team of "Five Guys" decided to franchise in Maryland and Virginia.
Now there are more than 1,200 locations in 48 states and internationally, including in London and with plans to open in the Middle East.
"I think they were ahead of the curve in understanding real, good, high quality ingredients in a clean environment," Dussault said.
The menu is very simple: burgers, fries, dogs, and now milkshakes.
"We get all our vegetables whole. Every patty is hand-pattied. No microwave, no freezer, no can openers. We're not hiding anything," he said.
The burgers are all formed in the restaurants. The fries are all hand-cut from potatoes that sit on display in giant bags. The name of the potato farm is also displayed in each store.
"We only take potatoes from 42nd parallel and north," he said, noting they're generally from Idaho. "Those potatoes grow slower than a potato from the south, which makes them denser."
The fries are cooked in peanut oil, and peanuts are there for people waiting in line to snack on. Pricing is simple, too. Cheese and bacon are extra, but otherwise load up your burger with whatever toppings you like.
Everything is cooked by feel. The burgers are well-done diner-style.
"There are no timers here," Dussault said. "I can guarantee that our burger well done is as juicy as anything you'd ever want."
The fries are blanched, precooked and finished to perfection.
"That gives them a firm outside with a mash potato inside," said Dussault.
The recipe is simple, but executing it in a growing business is the challenge for Dussault and his team.
"It's high quality food, keeping that simple, and great guest service. Those three things are easy to say but hard to pull off," he said.
Five Guys has locations in Apple Valley, Coon Rapids, Duluth, Eden Prairie, Edina, Hopkins, Mankato, Maple Grove, Minneapolis, Oakdale, Plymouth, Rochester, Shakopee, Shoreview and St. Cloud.
