re: New five guys / chipotle in BR

1st off Five Guys started in the Arlington, Virginia which so known for it's food and "great" restaurants. The Five Guys by my house in Chester, VA just closed and believe me there is no competition here!

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Just got a Five Guys here in West Monroe....talked about the most overhyped burger in history!! It sucks arse IMO, and the fact that people pay 10 bucks for a meal there is beyond hysterical

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No doubt! It is non-seasoned FRIED hamburgers...terrible!

BTW, Chipotles is no better!

The funny thing about the new wave of "fast casual" restaurants - a morph between fast food and casual dining - is when the concept first hit, people were impressed because of the quality relative to price point and the dining experience would suggest.

Five guys could give you a burger almost as fast as McDonald's (same is true of Cheeburger, Fudruckers, and several others in the same class), but it's a better quality at a slightly higher price point.

People naturally overreacted because of their expectation of what fast food is. So now we're seeing the reaction to the overreaction.

People expecting 5 guys to be something made by an executive chef or Chipotle to be something more than it is will naturally be disappointed. But they are forgetting that it's still just fast food at an inexpensive price.

I think the model for this wave of restaurants is solid though: Up the food quality and the price point and people will react possitively to it, all in all.