Five Guys eyes Sydney and Melbourne as a springboard for national expansion

The burger chain currently has four restaurants including a second Melbourne location.

Five Guys’ second Melbourne restaurant marks the beginning of its national expansion plans, with the brand focusing on building a strong presence in Sydney and Melbourne before expanding to other states.

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Phil Keelan, Head of Operations at Five Guys Australia, explains why they are prioritising these two cities and how they plan to compete in Australia’s competitive burger segment.

What factors influenced your decision to open a second store in Melbourne, and why was the QV location chosen?

With a powerhouse brand in Australia like Five Guys, we needed to showcase it across Australia. Following the success of our location on Melbourne’s Southbank, we immediately laid eyes on the upper CBD area of Melbourne where the melting pot of suits, shoppers, tourists and residents combined the student quarter with industrious Melbourne CBD, laid the platform for our next Five Guys on the corner of Swanston & Lonsdale Streets.

We are focused on Melbourne & Sydney where the discerning burger-lover appreciates abundance, demands freshness and seeks value, not only in the product but their experience

What challenges have you faced in expanding Five Guys into the Australian market? Could you share an example?

Now that we are 2+ years into trading we have learned a lot about, not only operating a Five Guys franchise but operating a Five Guys franchise within a stringent Australian Labour Market, challenged by high inflationary metrics, where people now look for value more than ever when choosing dining destinations we are well equipped to stimulate our growth once more.

When we opened in a pandemic era, this itself offered its challenges, none more so than the labour market vacuum left in FY 2022/23.

Staffing a highly labour-centric concept when there is a vacuum left by closed borders and minimised international travel/holidaymakers, proved to be one of the greatest challenges we faced.

How did you approach these challenges?

In order for us to be able to staff stores, retain staff, and then train them ready for Growth we have had to rewrite labour models and innovate on labour strategies, change staffing models and revamp our employee experience.

Something we are proud to continually evolve.

The most successful Five Guys Managers are those that grow from within our ranks. 2 of our current Restaurant Managers joined us at Crew level 2 years ago.

How do you intend to capture market share in Melbourne’s highly competitive food scene, especially amongst other established burger chains?

We offer a fully fresh product that is completely customisable and made to order.

In itself, this completely separates us from the marketplace in both the QSR and fast food sectors where people are ordering stock Burgers off menus.

Consider this?...  Our Buns are baked 4 times a week in Sydney & shipped overnight, we press our beef patties fresh every day, hand cut our potatoes to make our boardwalk fries and prep all fresh produce each morning.

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Bringing the beauty and skill of fully customising your experience with these fresh products, made to order and delivered with consistency, adds value itself to the discerning Melbourne consumer.

I mean, do you want a $15 poor meal or a $25 valuable experience?

Don’t answer that! Just come try it yourself… We are confident we will add your name to our Cult-like following!

What opportunities do you see for Five Guys? Could you share an example?

As we currently focus on Syndey and Melbourne to gain critical mass, we have ambitions to take the product country-wide and beyond.

Entering 2025 is exciting to see where the brand can go and who wants us? Afterall, surely QLD, WA, SA or ACT all want a taste of Five Guys?

What menu adjustments have you made to cater to local preferences or trends?

The menu has been unchanged since 1986 – barring the addition of Shakes in 2014.

The fully customisable, made to order product doesn’t need changing when the customer can order what they want tailored to their taste!

The addition of Shakes in 2014 further strengthened that offering when their shakes too are a customisable product, offering 8 different mix-ins including adding Bacon to your shake!

I mean seriously? Ever tried a Salted Caramel, Oreo &  Bacon Shake?

Or go retro with our Freshly marinaded Banana, Caramel & Biscoff Cookie shake… Screams of Banoffee?   

 At Five Guys ‘’we make your burger, your way!’’ the same can be said of the amazing Milkshakes!

What are your broader plans for nationwide growth in the coming years?

Embedding ourselves in the Sydney & Melbourne Markets is critical to our success… Achieving this will mean growth interstate and dare we say it… internationally!