“Five Guys” is a family-run business that started in Arlington, VA, in 1986. The Five Guys menu plan is to serve quality hand-made hamburgers made exactly the way you want them. Five Guys was “born” when parents Jerry and Janie Murrell told their sons to either “start a business or go to college.” There were four brothers at that time. Brother number five showed up somewhere along the line, and now Five Guys business has grown from the first location to over 1,000 locations nationwide. According to their website, Five Guys has “a cult-like following around the world” They also claim that there are over 250,000 ways to order a burger.

Five Guys – Just burgers & fries!

One thing about Five Guys is that, no matter what, no matter where, they only serve hamburgers, hot dogs, fires and sandwiches. That’s it. No salads, no milkshakes – no breakfast biscuits. Just the basics. Even the sandwiches on offer are made with ingredients that are only found on the toppings menu. They also offer free peanuts to all their customers – and they have warnings posted all over the restaurant to let people with peanut allergies that their store is stocked with anaphylactic shock-triggering food.

As far as the cult-like following is concerned, it seems to mostly involve people sending photos of themselves (or their pets) eating Five Guys products, or pictures of themselves in Five Guys locations. Part of the “cult following” might be the ability of “fanatics” (as patrons are referred to by the owners) to purchase Five Guys stuff. Five Guys enthusiast can buy T-shirts, sweat shirts, and accessories (glassware, water bottles and license plate holders). And, for a limited time, they can purchase a “Limited Edition Fan Design” T-Shirt. The T-Shirt was created in 2014 as response to a T-Shirt design challenge. Since it was voted on by fans, it’s only natural that Five Guys “fanatics” would want one.