Peep Insights: A New Breed of Burger Chains in America

Those processed, frozen beef burgers that America has been putting up with since fast food chains perfected standardization just aren’t cutting it anymore. For years (since 1948, actually) the West Coast has enjoyed In-N-Out Burger’s fresh, never frozen burgers and hand cut fries with a cult-like devotion. While the West Coast has been savoring and bragging about a regional favorite, the East Coast has had to suffer -until now.

While flipping through a Zagat guide for the DC area, you would be surprised to find that the highest rated burger place is a regional chain called Five Guys Burgers and Fries. To see what the hype was all about, a fellow Peeper visited a Five Guys and ordered a little bacon cheeseburger (with fried onions, lettuce and tomato), regular fries and a soda. The “little” burger is a bit of a misnomer, as it consists of one regular sized patty (more than enough) while a “regular” is two patties. The freshness of the food is apparent when one bites into the burger, which is never frozen and hand formed. The fries, which come seasoned or unseasoned, are heaping, overflowing out of the cup and onto the bottom of the bag. Bags of Idaho potatoes, visible to customers and a board stating where the potatoes are from each day are displayed to reinforce the freshness of the ingredients. These are all signature elements of Five Guys that make the brand unique and attract a devoted following, not unlike In-N-Out Burger.

Adding another dimension to Five Guys are its free peanuts and a choice of 15 different, free toppings for your burger. While waiting for an order, you are greeted with boxes or pails full of peanuts (shell on), which keep you busy and your mind off the wait. The choice of free toppings plays well into the trend of mass customization, and doesn’t cost the company tremendously since a number of those toppings are bottled. With a higher average check than most fast food chains, Five Guys can be considered fast casual. What began as a local burger shop in northern Virginia is set to tip, as franchises for 1,200 new locations have been sold for development over the next 10 years.

A recent article in the Washington Post highlights the increasing number of regional burger chains that are vying to become the next Five Guys. In NYC, chains like goodburger, betterburger and Shake Shack (adding locations in the Upper West Side and Citi Field) continue to slug it out for a larger share of the burger market. Even celebrity chefs, like Bobby Flay, are getting into the action. The Food Network star recently opened Bobby’s Burger Palace in Long Island, which is a fast casual burger restaurant slated to become a chain. As competition grows ever more fierce in the burger segment, the East Coast will only continue to enjoy better tasting burgers.