Early Bird Gets the Worm

Standing in line at Five Guys is half of the experience. Stacks and stacks of bags filled with peanuts await the tempted hands of hungry customers. You stand snacking, anticipation of a juicy burger makes your mouth water. You'll notice the signature red and white tiles on the walls and tap your foot to the retro music. Once at the cash register, you'll encounter a plethora of choices but this isn't your first rodeo, you already have your order in mind. And then you'll bite into the fresh meat, the flavours of the toppings mixing together in your mouth. Then you'll take a handful of fries and notice the crunchy layer on the outside slowly caving in as you bite into them to find the soft heart of the potato. Yes, there is nothing like Five Guys, you'll say to yourself. Except...

... nope, not even them.

Everyone has heard sayings like "early bird gets the worm" or "first come first served", in business we call this concept first mover advantage. Founded in 1986, Five guys has 8 years on Shake Shack and it definitely shows when comparing the annual revenue. Where Shack Shack makes approximately 459.3 million annually, Five Guys makes an astounding 832 million in annual revenue. Longer established companies will naturally have an edge over their competitors, and closing the gap between company revenue becomes even more difficult as the difference in founding dates grow.

It remains to be seen if Shake Shack will ever catch up to Five Guys, perhaps CEO Randy Garutti will be able to turn things around for them... maybe by opening more locations globally? It remains to be seen...