Monday 15 July 2013

Five Guys

The art of PR and marketing


If you live in London, even if you are not a foodie, I'm pretty sure you will have come across some burgers topics from the newspaper and media lately, apparently there is a burger war in London with US giants Five Guys and Shake Shack setting up for a slice of the booming burgers market in Britain. It has become the talk of the town and it is like a virus, flooding all the papers and social media. So do these guys from the US merit all the buzz and hype? I visited Five Guys to see what the fuss is all about.


I like to first mention the price, so Five Guys' view on a "little" burger (£5) means it is bigger than a Big Mac, while a standard burger is something that kids and some people would find it hard to finish? So it seems like Five Guys have forgotten they are no longer in the US here, or the marketing team behind the menu trying to fool people into buying standard burgers rather than "little" burgers. A cheese burger for £8 is hardly fast food price before factoring in the chips and drinks.

Five Guys London
Chips

So the food.... Well I got to agree what the Guardian said about its burger, it does looks just like a burger from Burger King which has been sat on from someone. And the taste? Lets put it this way, if you only choose the standard burger toppings in your Five Guys burger, it is not easy to taste the difference from a Big Mac.... the chips was dry and bland, even after extra seasoning of salt and pepper by myself, it just doesn't taste like what you would be hoping for considering all the hype given to Five Guys.

'little' bacon cheese burger
Big Mac mk2?

To sum it up, Five Guys is nothing but bit of a PR and marketing trick with the overly hyped buzz from the press and the cheeky price tag on its burger. The quality of the food is pretty much McDonald's level but at a higher price, but Five Guys London is never about quality burgers isn't it? It is all about generating profits. Disappointing customers? Not a problem, Its strategically selected location between Leicester Square and Covent Garden mean its target audience are always going to be 99.9% new visitors (And a lot will be coming from tourists) rather than rely on returning customers. There you go, Five Guys have taken advantage of the London burger trend and used its brand image from the US to create a model that it wouldn't look out of place as a case study in a 101 marketing guide. Bravo.


Food 2

Service 2
Ambience 2
Value 2


£11 per head


1 Long Acre, London, Greater London WC2E 9BD


http://fiveguys.co.uk/


Five Guys Burgers & Fries on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. You either work for Byron or GBK or you are a complete moron.
    It tastes nothing like a big mac and it is easy to tell the food is much better quality than mcdonalds.
    If its doing nothing but disappointing customers I suggest you look at theyre official twitter page.Im sure 5 guys and Shake shack will be very successful.

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    1. Please explain why all the UK media and bloggers are trashing Five Guys and Shake Shack.
      I never said they will not be successful, just look at where is Mcdonalds now, please read properly before talking rubbish.
      You must work for Five Guys. End of.

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