Workin' at Five Guys Burgers and Fries

By Amy Davis

Working at Five Guys Burgers and Fries is kind of like working at any fast food restaurant, minus the stress. Unlike less fancy places, such as Burger King, McDonald’s, or Wendy’s, which are just a place to eat when you’re in a hurry or don’t have much money, Five Guys is a more sophisticated place to eat. The music is always on loud, which the restaurant is required to do by Jerry Murrell, the man who started the business. He says the booming music brings joy and happiness to the customers. The restaurant draws its name from the five Murrell brothers who started the business, which began as one little store in Arlington, VA, and grew to a worldwide franchise soon after the opening.

A few Lloyd students, including me, Amy Davis, as well as Korina Huntley and Kayla Sawyers, work at Five Guys. It’s good pay and you move up through the ranks pretty quickly, but I’m not saying you should have a career in it. It’s a good job to learn to manage pay checks and save up money you earned yourself. A restaurant doesn’t always offer the best jobs, but you actually make more money than you would at a clothing store like Justice. Personally, though, I’d rather work at a clothing store because it’s not as smelly and you won’t gain a lot of weight from the products you’re around. Also, at fast food restaurants you work more, and late.

The skills you need for the job include good people skills to function around the public and your coworkers. You need to be happy and show the customers they’re welcome even if you aren’t in the best mood; surprisingly, though, the customers often put me in a better mood. If you’re on the register you need to be fast and social so the customers feel comfortable and that you’re treating them like every other person. In the lobby, you need to make sure the tables are always clean for the customers, inviting places to sit and have a meal. On the line, you dress the burger buns with whatever toppings the ticket says. You make the fries and always give extra. Cook the burgers well done so that no customers get pink meat.

Five Guys is a place where the customers are the main priority. Everyone talks about how good the food is and how, if it’s someone’s first time being there, we make sure it’s perfect so they come back and give us repeat business. Our job is to keep our regulars happy, and we succeed.