Five Guys celebrated its 40th anniversary earlier this year but its CEO was left fearing for his life after a significant screw-up.
The popular burger chain is perhaps best known online not for its tasty sandwiches but for the sheer amount of chips (or fries) that you get inside your takeaway bag.
While some fast food joints are suffering somewhat with the increase in prices and focus on healthy eating, Five Guys has faced no such issues, perhaps because CEO Jerry Murrell has already addressed exactly why his company's burgers can be so expensive, after an 'out-of-control' receipt went viral.
Five Guys wanted to celebrate properly last month when it marked its 40th year in business, and why not, given very few businesses can continue to be a success after that long in today's economy.
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The company decided it would pay its customers back by running a buy one, get one free promotion during February but the demand quickly became too much, leaving thousands of stores without burgers and staff understandably overwhelmed.
Speaking in a recent interview with Fortune, the 82-year-old CEO joked that he feared for his life after the promotion went wrong and it was forced to end early, which sparked major backlash online.
He said: "I didn't want anybody shooting me in the back or anything after the first day, because we really screwed it up. We had no idea that we were going to get that kind of response."
By way of apology, Murrell decided to send each of his 1500 stores across the United States a $1000 bonus, which set him back $1.5 million in total.
He added: “I was gonna buy my wife a new fur coat, and I spent it on [the bonus] instead. She still looks at me like I’m stupid. But I thought it was worth it. They worked so hard. They were so overwhelmed.”
Five Guys later apologised online for the mix-up which left a lot of customers disappointed that they couldn't land themselves a second burger for free, even if we're all usually full up from the astonishing amount of extra fries.
The company wrote: "You visited our restaurants in overwhelming numbers, and we weren't ready for you,' the company told customers in a statement announcing the revamped promotion.
"We didn't meet our own standards, and that's not something we take lightly."
It also confirmed that it would re-run the promotion for a few days in March, meaning US customers could still cash in a little later on.
Murrell added: "We were genuinely humbled by the response. Forty years is a long time, and the outpouring of support for our 40th birthday reminded us why we love what we do."
Topics: Five Guys
James Moorhouse