Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3 - 32

food & beverage five guys
www.fiveguys.com / Annual sales: $2 billion / HQ: Lorton, Va. / Employees: 80,000 / Service: Burgers, hot dogs and milkshakes / Jason Lee, senior director of global
logistics and international supply chain: "We have proven that when you provide the best-quality products and service, the customers will find us."

Success from Scratch
CREDIT: @ashley_camryn

Five Guys thrives by being proactive and staying true to its culture
of quality. By Alan Dorich
For Five Guys, there has
been no greater form of
advertising than the wordof-mouth generated by its
satisfied customers.
"We have proven that
JASON LEE
when you provide the
senior director
of global logistics
best quality products and
and international
service, the customers will
supply chain
find us," Jason Lee says,
adding that this unique approach
sets it apart from other restaurants. "We don't do any advertising, promotions, limited-time
offers or traditional marketing. We
have total faith that the product
markets itself."
Lee is the senior director of
global logistics and international supply chain for the Lorton,
Va.-based company, which has
locations in 17 countries that
serve burgers, fries, hot dogs and
milkshakes. Five Guys' history
goes back to 1986 when the Murrell
family opened a carry-out restaurant in Arlington, Va.
The location, which operated
under the management of Jerry
and Janie Murrell, specialized in
hand-formed, grill-cooked burgers
along with fresh-cut fries that were
cooked in pure peanut oil. Today,
Five Guys has 1,600 locations
around the world that still follow
its quality standards.
These include using only fresh
ground beef for its burgers and
using coolers instead of freezers.
"Here at Five Guys, everything is
32

Supply Chain World VOLUME 7, ISSUE 3

done from scratch and if anything
that's been prepared and is not
used by the next day, we toss it,"
Lee says.

A New Focus
Lee joined Five Guys four years
ago after working for Fortune 500
companies, such as Stanley Black
& Decker Inc. "What drove me
to this position was that it was a
newly formed role and I was given
the opportunity to take ownership
of designing and implementing the
entire logistics program from end
to end," he recalls.
Previously, Five Guys had not
strongly focused on its logistics
program. Instead, its suppliers
found carriers and booked them

Five Guys has 1,600 locations
around the world that still follow
the quality standards set by the
chain's founding family.

themselves, often embedding the
cost of logistics into the price of
their products.
"We had no visibility of what the
true product or freight cost was,"
Lee says, adding that this model is
common in the industry. "Many
foodservice companies are still
under the same model of a blended
delivered cost."
But others are following Five
Guys' lead and are starting to
focus on supply chain from both
a cost and a service perspective.
Lee's first action at the company
was to work with its suppliers and
uncover the true costs for products and transportation.
"We analyzed the margins and
realized how high costs were when

Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Supply Chain World - Volume 7, Issue 3