Markets

5 Reasons Five Guys Burgers and Fries is the New Cult Fave

By Carol Tice

Updated on: August 23, 2010 / 7:59 PM EDT / MoneyWatch

In the better-burger wars, Five Guys Burgers and Fries recently pulled ahead of longtime winner In-N-Out Burger in the Zagat survey. The two chains have a lot of similarities -- only fresh ground beef, fries hand-cut in the store, a retro-'50s feel...even a similar color scheme.

So why has Five Guys snatched the top spot from legendary In-N-Out? Five reasons:

They're bigger. In-N-Out has under 250 stores, while Five Guys has been on a growth spurt and now has more than 625. That's just a lot more opportunities to experience the Five Guys brand and become a raving fan.
Customization. At Five Guys, you can get toppings any way you like, where In-N-Out sticks to a very limited menu. In a world where the economy seems to be spinning out of control, maybe customers appreciate the chance to customize their burger to their exact desires.
In with the new. In-N-Out has been around since 1948. Even great concepts can become passe after a while. Five Guys is doing something similar, but it's less familiar to many diners -- most of its expansion has been in the past few years, and the chain was founded in 1986. When customers love the burgers, it may be more of a surprise: "Hey, I didn't know this chain, and their burgers are great!" Where at In-N-Out, customers may feel more like they just got what they expected. Also, younger diners may think of In-N-Out as their parents' better-burger place -- and now they've got their own fresh-burger chain to love.
Selling the fresh. Five Guys puts their product freshness in your face with their bags of potatoes stacked up in the aisles. Personally, I'm sorry I can't be eating the cup of fries in that photo right now. While the product is no fresher than at In-N-Out, the company's presentation does a great job of priming customers to appreciate the great taste that comes from food being really fresh.
So tired, tired of waiting... It's possible that the tradition of driving hours and waiting in long lines to score a Double-Double is starting to annoy customers at In-N-Out, who then may find the final product not worth the time investment. With many more stores, a typical Five Guys customer probably doesn't have to go through as much drama to get their burger.

In-N-Out is still a great chain with a lot of fans. It'll be interesting to see if Five Guys can hang onto its top Zagat ranking as it keeps expanding, or if the quality of the experience will erode, as DailyFinance columnist Sarah Gilbert believes it will. My take: This win marks the ascendance of a new better-burger favorite for a new generation.

Photo via Flickr user House of Sims