All depends if you're working in a corporate store or franchise. Usually corporate pays better, everything is 'by the book', and usually busier stores. Franchises on the other hand... boy...
I worked in franchise store for few years. Started as crew member, things were mostly easy as long you did as you're told and moved efficiently you'll be fine. It gets hard during rushes, when people call out/no show, and working with poor management. This job requires you to be communicative, work as a team to win secret shops every week, and learn about the company/practices for steritect audit (3rd party health/brand inspection). You'll get more hours the more you improve and stay consistent and reliable. If you wanna be a lazy roach this isn't the job for you.
For shift leaders and AGMs, this job is helaaa stressful. May be rewarding depending if your district is making money, and consistently winning shops, quarterly bonuses, and quarterly audits. Its hela money if you're working with a great GM that knows what they're doing. I had the ~pleasure~ to go through 4 GMs in one store with in a 3 year period. You can have a dookie franchise owner that is stingy and lies about bonuses and raises but a great GM that will fight for you and give you hours and work with your availability. But, if your GM is dookie, they will ride you like there is no tomorrow and blame you for everything that goes wrong in the store. You can do everything they ask for within the time period they want it done
Prospaid lunch, secret shops get you extra money
Conscustomers are always right, fight for raises, higher ups lie about rewards, strict and unrealistic goals
Each location is different meaning that whoever is the manager of that store may make your job easier or a lot more stressful than it should be.I worked at two different five guys location.I stay in Georgia. I worked at the camp creek location and that location was fairly fun and no drama at all.The staff was really cool and my days went by very quick.Five Guys does require a lot of prep but that is only because they’re food is fresh.My only problem with that job was they offered to pay me $9 an hour and that was too little for me so I decided to relocate and work in Atlanta hartfield Jackson airport on Concourse D.However that experience was the most horrible job I ever worked at.Ive got so many bruises and scars working at that specific job than any other job I had.The staff over there is really unprofessional.Its too much drama.Its too many micro management that goes on.Meaning too many people telling you what to do even if they’re not mangers and too much confusion.The director of operations does have her favorite crew members aka Shamanda so if your not her favorite you’ll never get your requested time off and the general manager which is Marvin Barber will always pick on the weakest link.Theres never enough employees to work in closing shift because everyone ends up quitting because the people that’s in charge never know how to treat their employee and that is why they never have enough staff.And than let’s talk about the constant yelling because they have this rule cal
ProsFree lunch
ConsBarely get a break, if your a guy get ready to cut 8 full bags of potatoes ouch, it’s soo many
A typical day at work was dependent of which of the two shifts you worked. I worked through the dinner rush mostly.
The morning was easy, prep for the day. Lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, cheese, hundreds of pounds of potatoes, meat for the patties, milkshake toppings. A lot of gossip happened at the patty smashing table, which I wasn't fond of. Then the short 3 hour lunch rush, go home.
The dinner shift was not so easy. I would come in at 2 or 4 in the afternoon. There were the morning dishes, more potatoes to cut, then the longer dinner rush from 5-9pm before it slows down into the evening. Then came breaks, and eventually closing time at 10pm. Frantically, everything is cleaned, from the ceiling to scrubbing the floors, and bleaching the drain. The store was to be absolutely sanitary for the morning crew.
I had never worked in a line cook position before. I was taught to run the flat top grill first, then the potato fryers. Within a month I was given a raise and was told that I would be getting my training binder to become a manager. I never saw the binder.
The managers were fun to work with on the line, but behind the scenes, there was zero professional communication. Schedules were poorly attended to and often times were rewritten once or twice throughout the week. The franchise was also majorly understaffed through the state, and the new hire turn over rate was astonishing. Several people each month would pop in to try it out for a day or two and then just sto
Enjoyable but all positions need to put in the work to succeed
Locations are owned by franchisees not corporate, so every location will be a little different for an employee. Atmosphere is set by the GM. When corporate comes in, they are there to essentially tell you what your doing wrong not what your doing right. Don't take their criticism personally, just make the changes they want.
To succeed, work hard, work fast, try to always be cleaning or training when it's not busy. You can get the store to the point where it's always clean and then there is time to relax, but it requires a lot of good team work and communication.
GM's: Do your do diligence when hiring. It's hard to find good talent that wants to work hard at minimum wage, but there is good talent out there that needs a job. Praise the good ones in public and give them criticism and direction in private to keep them happy. Do the same with the bad ones too. Do 3 month performance reviews.
Make prep time a friendly competition with small rewards to get energy high for the morning shift. Create a cleaning checklist for everyday. Laminate it and let employees decide who does what and use it as a reward for fast prep and above and beyond work. Let them assign you cleaning tasks too. They will love being your boss for once and your not special. Lead by example.
Train all the time!!!! Put crew members on their worst station to practice. When it gets busy, rotate them out to something they're better at. Don't let one person always do one thing. Everyone needs to be great at ev
ProsFree lunches and good fun atmosphere
Conspoor pay requires a lot of energy all day long
good place to work as long as corporate and the gm of your store doesnt ruin it
worked there twice actually, once for two years and the second time for 2 or 3 months, first time i was scheduled almostevery day, 12 hour shifts, on holidays like new years and christmas, pay wasnt worth it, and i got passed up twice for promotion as explicitly stated by management.
second time i came back, covid was resurgent, had a couple close calls while working there and i was called while coming into a shift one day by the general manager of the tilton store in 2022, that "you need to think about if you really want to work here" after being taken off of full time hours for having a covid scare.no information about policy for that was shared directly with the crew, nor was any of the information needed for us to function properly distributed to us until last minute, and only if it came up in conversation. second time i came back i was again, working almost every day, ten hour shifts, covering other peoples shifts on my days off, and capably running the store other then explicitly manager duties.
corporate had promised a multitude of benefits and incentives to work there and have delivered on none of them, there was an offer for an extra dollar an hour every day you came into work 20 minutes early or so, never happened. we use to get bonuses for selling a certain number of milkshakes per day, and secret shopper bonuses happen so infrequently and rarely go well enough to award a bonus, are not consistent enough to justify them listing their pay rate as high as it is, T
Prosfree meal, free drinks on shift, credit card tip pool
Conspoor communication, pay, and employee conditions
A typical day consist of many operations. Any given day could bring 100 different scenarios. Typically, a morning phone call to all the District Managers in the company to follow up with any issues that may have not been resolved. Visit a store and its staff and do a general walk through of the store. On average 50-60 phone calls a day would be answered ranging from raise requests to repair requests for a store. Generally the day would finish with reviewing schedules, end of the day phone call with the District Managers for the company.
I learned many things in my position. Patience, tolerance, leadership, fairness, and organization to name a few things. From the beginning, I learned that if my day wasn't organized then I would have a chance to get through it. In my position I learned that I had to rely on the success of others and that the success of the company would come directly from the work I did in the stores. Training was a constant that had to be accomplished in 22 stores simultaneously, a feat that could not be done by one person alone. Building a team of managers that could fit the bill was one of the first goals to accomplish.
My team can handle any situation that arises. They are hard working , up beat, intelligent men and women. The culture that they work in requires all of those traits, and they could motivate anyone without question. My co workers are the type of people that you would find hanging out on the weekends together or going t
ProsTraveling, ability to make decisions that shaped the company, never a dull day
Quick paced with customer service being first in mind
A work day at Five Guys varies depending on what shift you work. There are three different shifts available.
Morning Crew:
Those working morning crew should expect to come at either 8:00am or 9:00am to do prep work. Everything is prepped for that day so how much is needed to be done varies. Typically, a gray shirt (manager) will cook bacon, slice tomatoes, shred lettuce, and prep other produce while red shirts (crew members) roll meat. The meat is raw meat so don't expect precooked patties. The store opens at 11:00am which gives a two to three hour time period to get prep done. Usually four to six people prep and it is possible to get prep done by 10:30am so everyone have enjoy a break and their employee meal.
Midshift:
Those working a Midshift usually work from 11:00am to either 6:00pm or 7:00pm. You do not open, you do not close, you work the hours the store is open and serving customers. There are five different stations that everyone is trained to work. P.O.S., B.O.H., Sets, Fries and Expo, or Grill. Each station coincides with each other, so if you take the time and effort to learn each station it will be easier to work each station. Midshifts get a break during slow times(2:00pm to 3:00pm), if available.
NIght Crew:
Those working night crew come in anywhere from 3:00pm to 6:00pm depending on availability and leave at either 10:00pm or close. Closers have four stations they can close. Grill, fryers, lobby, or B.O.H., with a manager counting tills and handling the
Excellent place to work, but mileage varies based on location
Overall I'd say this is a good company to work for. The secret shopper program provides decent bonuses for 100s, and obtaining perfect scores on them are not too difficult if the store has a good crew and management.
The company is VERY focused on cleanliness, and has regular third party audits to ensure cleanliness is maintained. Failure to meet company standards on the audit results in the store being temporarily closed, cleaned, retrained, and restaffed as needed.
Very easy to move up in the company as long as you have good work ethic(move with urgency, willing to come in occasionally to cover shifts, show up to work). They definitely care much more about performance than age, gender, race, and always prefer to promote from within. Corporate bosses all seem to have their hearts in the right place and generally treat the stores and their employees fairly, although they make questionable decisions too like any other company. Upper management and the founders take a very active role in regular operations of the company in visiting and helping locations.
On that note, every store has a different culture and personality, based very much upon the shift leads and General manager of the location, and corporate generally avoids micro managing individual locations unless things go very wrong(I.E. turnover gets high/Secret shopper scores take a big dip). As such, rogue/ineffective GMs can hurt a store's morale greatly, and it may take some time for them to be retrained/replaced
ProsFree meal per shift, flexible hours, good pay, positive environment, good bonus program, job security
ConsBenefits can be difficult to obtain at crew member/shift leader level, upper level decision making can be mystifying at times
Many people enjoy the Five Guys (Burgers & Fries) experience myself included. After working for the establishment for some time now I can say that in practice the company leaves you scratching your head.
Several different testing programs such as the secret shopper, phantom shopper, manager shopper, Steritech, and more constantly keep employees on the edge. While intended to improve productivity and instill a sense of the five guys way in its employees, it instead only puts unneeded and wasteful pressure on its workers that far out weighs the "free money" that is received during successful(100% only) shops.
Unnecessary procedures are also implemented such as "up selling" products despite customers clearly not wanting said products. We are even told not to explain the difference between a regular cheese burger (a double cheese burger anywhere else) and a little cheese burger unless explicitly asked.
While I can only speak for the five guys that I have personally been/worked at, I can say that there is a serious disconnect between management (both upper and middle) and regular employees. As a student of modern business I can say with confidence that the structure at Five Guys is "old news" and doesn't reflect modern business ideas.
And finally the concept of proper payment seems to be a foreign concept as raises are commonly given out only during periods where the min. wage has risen. Asking for a raise also constitutes an illegitimate testing process that on avera
ProsEasy job, free daily meal
ConsLack of "perks" (healthcare, stocks, bonuses) except for higher management, serious disconnect between management, its employees, and modern business practices.
I really enjoyed my time working at Five Guys and I am very glad that I had the opportunity to work there, however, I felt as though there wasn't a lot of collaboration and there was no chance to possibly get to know my fellow employees and therefore be able to trust them as much as I could have. It is a very cut-throat place to work and there was very little time allotted for breaks, usually only long enough to eat something and then get rushed back to work. I wasn't able to get to know anyone because every time I would begin a conversation with them we were told to get back to work regardless of how busy it was. There were multiple occasions were we would be really slow and everything would be clean to the managers satisfaction but rather than helping others to complete their tasks I was told to just repeat the same tasks I had already repeated until a customer arrived. Also, they were extremely strict about availability and attendance, I was ultimately fired because I missed a day of work that couldn't have really been avoided, and after calling and letting them know a day and advance that I had called those employees who's numbers I had but couldn't find a replacement, they agreed to help me find one. At the time I did not have a drivers license and my parents refused to leave me home along while they were so far away so I had to go on the trip they went on and when they could not help find a replacement, they called asking if I could come in still even though I was 7 ho
ProsFun to work, great first job expeirence
ConsSuper strict, minimal breaks, no room for sudden madatory schedule changes
Typical day at work?
You are required to come in 15 minutes before you are scheduled to start to settle down and have a quick team briefing. Online when you check the rota it tells you exactly what station you are on however don't depend on it as the managers tend to change everyone round so you cannot go in there and expect to be on the tills because they are more likely to put you on something else such as grill etc. Once the briefing is done everyone is set off to go on their stations and the day goes on. As you would expect, there are busy times and there are times when there is hardly any customers. 98% of the shifts are quite fun and enjoyable. Co-workers are always laughing and helping out if it is needed. There is only one 20 minute break included in any shifts which is quite stressful, especially if you are working a long 10 hour shift for example.
What I learned?
The good thing about the job is that there are many stations that you get to be trained on such as tills, grill, fries etc. The biggest push is on customer service, always smile, take that extra mile for each and every customer and definitely be patient. There will be customers who are a absolute joke. However, once you are trained on everything you get not only a pay rise to £8.20 but also you get to train and become a manager. It roughly takes around 6 months for this to happen (as I have been told on the induction).
Management?
VERY, VERY, VERY UNORGANISED.. The rota is being done last minute
ProsFree lunch, Flexible, Paid break, Good salary, Friendly co-workers
ConsLong hours, Unorganised, 1 short break
Questions And Answers about Five Guys
What is the best part of working at Five Guys?
Asked Nov 25, 2019
It easy but they pay its really bad
Answered May 23, 2022
Fast-paced friendly environment.
Answered May 22, 2022
Does Five Guys get paid weekly?
Asked Dec 19, 2016
We get paid weekly.
Answered Jan 25, 2022
Its twice a month actually. I'm a manager there. Every 7th and 22nd unless that day lands on a weekend or holiday than you get paid the friday before.
Answered Nov 3, 2019
What is the interview process like at Five Guys?
Asked Aug 8, 2016
The hiring manager just asked me about my previous work history, my availability, and why i wanna work there. I was hired on spot
Answered Mar 19, 2021
on the spot interview and I got hired
Answered Mar 12, 2021
What is the most stressful part about working at Five Guys?
Asked Jan 15, 2018
Rush Hours
Answered Nov 12, 2020
Co workers not showing up
Answered Apr 14, 2020
What questions did they ask during your interview at Five Guys?
Asked Jun 16, 2016
What’s your availability? How many hours do you want
Answered Nov 20, 2020
Tell me about yourself.
What kind of experience do you have?