Not your typical fast food joint. - Crew Member Five Guys Employee Review

2.0
Aug 11, 2014
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Free lunch, and all the soda you can drink. Flexible schedule. Lots of work hours if you want them. Was also the only place that hired me in an instant when so many other fast food places I applied to either refused to hire till a certain time or they were chalk full of applications and had to interview more than 100 people, just for the spot of fry cook.

Cons

The store is super tiny. Trying to move around in such a confined area can be dangerous (I burned my arm when the employee next to me was swinging the fry basket). You're going to need some physical body strength to move around bags of potatoes and buckets of pre-cut fries. If you work around the deep fryers, the smell of oil will quickly get into your clothes and lungs so you're breathing that stuff all day. Where Five Guys really gets bad is the culture. If you desire challenge and shouting very loudly, quit your current job and join this one. If you're looking to just make minimum wage, stay away! My voice hurts from saying "hot swinging!" all day for working the fries. There are no kitchen timers or similar equipment. You have to use your own judgement when cooking the food. This can spell disaster because managers will flip out on you if something is either a little soft or a little burnt. Luckily, I knew a trick to get around this was to look at the ceiling clock and try and predict what the perfect "cooking time" was. Lastly, I disliked how disorganized cleaning was. There was no instructions as to who does what. I tried taking on various cleaning tasks but either someone already did it, or they hogged cleaning all to themselves (which is hilarious, why wouldn't you want someone to do cleaning for you?). I might be being too harsh. It was my first job and I did make a lot of mistakes. Five Guys culture of being very different to other fast food places might be what brings in the customers. However, the environment just seemed hostile. While the outside world thought we were having a good time, it felt like no one was communicating with each other. And when we did, it was on very aggressive terms.

Explore other reviews about Five Guys

5.0
Jun 13, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

Friendly environment that feels like family

Cons

Low wages compared to competition

4.0
Jun 1, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
Business outlook

Pros

They will teach you everything you need to be successful. They have much higher standards than most places, one of the few places I'd have no problem eating at any location. They'll make sure you have everything you need to meet those standards, especially once you get to a management level. They have corporate trainers and the GM at my location was also great. I'm a GM at a different place now and my experience here left me well prepared me for that position.

Cons

Pay. That's the only reason I left, I would have stayed with the company if I could have gotten a raise and I would definitely return if they offered something comparable to what I'm making elsewhere.

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