Assignment 1: Entrepreneurial Leadership Case Study: “Five Guys Burgers and Fries: Ingredients for Success” Glendolyn Hayden-Sharpe Professor Carolyn Green Contemporary Business October 13, 2013 Assignment 1: Entrepreneurial Leadership Case Study: “Five Guys Burgers and Fries: Ingredients for Success” Five Guys Burgers and Fries has been a Washington, D.C. area favorite since 1986, when Jerry and Murrell offered sage advise to the four young Murrell brothers. “Start a business or go to college.” The business route won and the Murrell family opened a carry-out burger joint in Arlington, Virginia. What sets Five Guys Burger and Fries apart from other fast food chains is that the serve only hand-formed burgers cooked to perfection on a grill along with fresh-cut fries cooked in peanut oil. Five Guys enterprises sold options for over 300 units. The overwhelming success of franchising a local restaurant made national news with articles in trade publications such as Nation’s Restaurant News, Restaurant Business Magazine, and the Franchise Times.
Five Guys Burger and Fries are a family owned business that was started by Jerry Murrell. He decided to open a restaurant by using the money saved for his sons to go to college. Jerry presented his sons with the notion of either going to college or opening a restaurant with him, so they decided to open the restaurant. Five Guys is a restaurant named for Jerry and his sons along with his wife Janie. Jerry wanted to be set apart from other restaurants so he concentrated on the quality of the product and customer satisfaction to both internal and external customer by using 80% lean meat always fresh and never frozen.
Wendy's Chili: A costing conundrum David Thomas founded Wendy’s International, Inc., in Columbus, Ohio, in November 1969 as a fast-food outlet to provide bigger and better hamburgers within a short time to customers. Since then Wendy’s has grown rapidly. Wendy’s initial success comes from the founder’s strong belief that the combination of product differentiation, market segmentation, quality food, quick service, and reasonable prices would produce a successful company. Wendy’s most popular product is the “Old Fashioned” hamburger which is made from fresh beef and is squared in a unique shape so as to differentiate it from the others. In addition, Wendy’s targeted different continually growing segments of the hamburger market such as young adults and adults.
The literature notes the factors that contributed to Five Guys’’ success and rapid growth. How Does Five Guys’ Philosophy Set It Apart? As stated on the company’s website “We follow the philosophy of focusing on a few items, and serving them to the best of our abilities,” this is what sets Five Guys’’ apart from other fast food chains. Unlike their competitors, such as Burger King and McDonalds, Five Guys’ has a specific goal, which is to serve the highest quality hamburgers and fries achievable. Their intent is to focus on “food” rather than “fast”; hence, Five Guys’ doesn’t offer drive-thru services and their food is made to order using fresh ingredients.
Five Guys vs McDonalds In my opinion Five Guys is much better than McDonalds. Both, like everything else, have their good and bad things, but in some aspects it is better one than the other. I believe Five Guys is better because their food quality, customer service, and atmosphere is better than at McDonalds. In the first place, Five Guys use only fresh ground beef that is never frozen and there are so many possible ways to order a burger. Also, at no extra cost every burger can be personalized with toppings and condiments from a list of fifteen add-ons that range from the mayo, onion and pickles to hot sauce, grilled mushrooms and Jalapeno peppers.
These burgers are a little pricey, but definitely worth it. Each description of the burger let you know what is on it and how it is made. The Hard Rock Cafe isn't just for those who are the hard rocking type, per say. It is a family based restaurant and everyone is allowed to attend. They do offer a full bar, but that is just for the grown ups.
The show focused on him eating his 19,000th sandwich. This man was in no means fat. He has ate McDonald’s for years. This alone negated some of Morgan’s claims that McDonald’s leads to obesity in America. While obesity is on the rise in America, people who are thin eat fast food.
The owners of small restaurant in San Bernardino, California were Dick and Mac McDonald ("The Ray Kroc Story."). After pitching his ideas to the brothers, Krone became co-owner and founded McDonalds Corporation in 1955. Three years later, the business sold their 100 millionth burger, and Krone bought the Company two years later ("The Ray Kroc Story."). The McDonalds Company has continued to strive for quality, service, cleanliness, and value under Kroc’s wing since. Due to the fact Kroc was an entrepreneur himself; he highly encouraged his employees to forward him their ideas, which helped McDonalds create the Egg McMuffin, Filet-O-Fish, and the all popular Big Mac ("The Ray Kroc Story.").
Dave Thomas founded Wendy’s on the fact that people wanted more than the fast food being offered by his competitors. Freshness, quality, and service are top priorities at Wendy’s. Wendy’s trademark, “Waaaay better than fast food” shows this. Wendy’s has stayed in business by giving customers what they want, hot delicious food. The campaign was something new in the fast food industry at the time.
Jollibee was able to outperform McDonalds by strategically using its resources and capabilities to come out on top. McDonalds enter the Filipino market in 1981 and immediately had an impact on the fast food industry. Jollibee was told to focus on being second but the fast food chain used their assets to win back their place. Jollibee’s resources and capabilities are: Resources * Menu Catered to Filipino’s Taste Jollibee’s research allowed them to find that their customers preferred a spicy burger with one big patty to the plain two beef patty McDonalds offers. With the knowledge they had, Jollibee was able to offer the Champ burger, which quickly gasped customers attention.