Five Guys is coming to London!

[okgo]

There are lots of fast food chains that are very similar in terms of the market they go after which have expanded within London only, its not ridiculous, its the truth.

Honest Burger
Chicken Shop
MeatMission/Meatliqor
Bodeans

[escargot]

I must have missed the bit where five guys are trying to target a selective market. Perhaps you ought to let them know too?

[okgo]

escargot said:

I must have missed the bit where five guys are trying to target a selective market. Perhaps you ought to let them know too?

Those other places are not trying to hit a certain person, they're just fast food places, I just think the minute you open things in shopping towns it loses anything it had, which is why any of those very successful chains I mention, and many others that are London only will not open anywhere else.

[escargot]

Apples and oranges.

Five guys business model is built around growth through rapid expansion. There's practically one in every shopping precinct in New York nowadays. Shakeshack on the other hand may well stay more large city-centric as this is more or less how they do it stateside (with a couple of exceptions).

[Mobile Chicane]

Outside of London there's a price point that people won't go beyond for a burger and chips.

I think around the £12-£13 mark is it, and that would be as part of a sit down meal somewhere like TGI Fridays / Ed's Easy Diner, not in a fast food format.

[okgo]

lepetitoeuf said:

That would make complete sense, if you were talking about a small, independent place that had one branch. But you're not.

Look at all those I've listed, and the others I've not mentioned (Burger Lobster another) that are not independents but are London only.

[Frik]

What sort of credibility does a burger joint need?

[iphonedyou]

okgo said:

Those other places are not trying to hit a certain person, they're just fast food places, I just think the minute you open things in shopping towns it loses anything it had, which is why any of those very successful chains I mention, and many others that are London only will not open anywhere else.

Very strange view. You seem to equivocating London-only outlets with success. Which is strange because a) arbitrary and b) it could be argued that an inability to scale the brand outside of London could be a negative, rather than a positive.

I say this as somebody that lives in London.

[craigjm]

Loses anything it had? its a slight step up from Burger King!!!

[rpguk]

I can see okgo's point to be fair. My impression from the media hype around it, people queuing to get in when Covent Garden opened etc and the comments on this thread etc is that it is a bit of a fad.

You might be able to sustain that wih one central London locaton. Day trippers, tourists and people wanting to see the fuss might pay £15 per head for a burger and chips. But I can't see that being sustainable when they are widespread and your mates back in Wakefield or wherever have been there too.

[Soir]

One opening in Manchester in April (Trafford Centre)

[HTP99]

ibisti said:

Went to the Guildford one last night. I will have to echo the comments from earlier posts. A good tasty burger and the fries were nice, if a little salty. The price was too high for the product and the setting though. £30.50 for 2 burgers fries and sodas. It was quite busy, but not as busy as I would guess they would like.
Guildford seem to be the "go to" place for alot of big companies now but I'm not sure it can sustain their takings.

Went to the Guildford one for the first time earlier this evening after seeing a film.

I had the double bacon cheese burger with onions, jalapeño's and mayo, the wife had a normal double burger with salad, we shared a regular chips and shared a drink; it was good however not £22 worth!

[Frik]

Yeah I got take away from there a couple of weeks ago. Probably didn't help that I didn't eat it immediately, but I certainly wasn't blown away. A shame.

[GavinPearson]

rpguk said:

I can see okgo's point to be fair. My impression from the media hype around it, people queuing to get in when Covent Garden opened etc and the comments on this thread etc is that it is a bit of a fad.

You might be able to sustain that wih one central London locaton. Day trippers, tourists and people wanting to see the fuss might pay £15 per head for a burger and chips. But I can't see that being sustainable when they are widespread and your mates back in Wakefield or wherever have been there too.

I live in the US where prices are a little more reasonable. I have a Five Guys near work and one near home so it is a little more ordinary for me, however, I don't care about the fact that it's a chain, in fact that's a good thing, what I care about is that the food is pretty consistent, and you can see the employees make it fresh a minute after you order it and have minimal risk of feeling unwell afterwards.

But then again I can buy a big burger with fries and a coke for under $10 at Five Guys, and I think that could realistically feed two people, if I was paying the prices they sell them for in the UK my expectations might be higher.

[craigjm]

GavinPearson said:

But then again I can buy a big burger with fries and a coke for under $10 at Five Guys, and I think that could realistically feed two people, if I was paying the prices they sell them for in the UK my expectations might be higher.

This is the issue. What we are paying £15 for here in the UK is about £7 max in the states.

[HTP99]

craigjm said:

GavinPearson said:

But then again I can buy a big burger with fries and a coke for under $10 at Five Guys, and I think that could realistically feed two people, if I was paying the prices they sell them for in the UK my expectations might be higher.

This is the issue. What we are paying £15 for here in the UK is about £7 max in the states.

I've just got prices for a 5 Guys in Boston; I paid £22 yesterday for mine in Guildford, if I had bought the same in Boston it would have cost £10.70

[jogon]

Exactly it is daylight robbery. Same with that Chipotle place now popping up all over central London.

£10 for a wrap and drink in London the same cost me $6 in Chicago last year.

[kev1974]

jogon said:

Exactly it is daylight robbery. Same with that Chipotle place now popping up all over central London.

£10 for a wrap and drink in London the same cost me $6 in Chicago last year.

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of people willing to pay those prices though. Not yet anyway.

[HTP99]

kev1974 said:

jogon said:

Exactly it is daylight robbery. Same with that Chipotle place now popping up all over central London.

£10 for a wrap and drink in London the same cost me $6 in Chicago last year.

There doesn't seem to be a shortage of people willing to pay those prices though. Not yet anyway.

Unfortunately for us English we will always pay more for something and the rest of the world know this.

[craigjm]

Thing is its easy to say hey what costs £15 in London is £8 somewhere in the US. Issue is though how does it relate to average earnings?