Five Guys vs. In'N'Out

C

caw

New member
L.A.Times has this story in the Business section today, about
expansion of the Five Guys chain into California where inevitably
they have to compete with In 'N Out.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-five-guys-20110408,0,7319175.story

The story notes that Five Guys doesn't do the drive thru window--only
sit down inside--which would seem to me to mean that they can't make a
serious inroad into In "N Out's bottom line. And the story wisely
doesn't attempt to compare the quality of the chains' food, noting
only that Five Guys offers bigger and more expensive items.

Being a long time SoCal resident and fan of In'NOut since inception
I'm curious whether east coast rfc-ers have opinions about the quality
of Five Guys' food. I think the story tries to make it sound as
though the competition is more direct than it really is, but for the
ordinary consumer like us, the story raises curiosity. -aem
 
On 2011-04-08, aem wrote:


Other than the line about 5 guys having "hand cut" fries. What? They
use a paring knife?

A CA scarf-n-barf w/o a drive-thru is like a cheetah w/o legs. Gonna
die! Note how even Weinerschnitzel and Taco Bell added drive-thrus.

nb
 
On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 12:23:45 -0700 (PDT), aem wrote:


Both of them just arrived in Texas. Well, FG has been here a year or
two.

I&O built a hamburger distribution facility near Dallas. This is one
their second one. So obviously they have plans to expand.

There has been a huge number of new burger placed that have opened in
Austin in the last 3 years. At least 15-18 of them. Not including any
BK's or McD's and whatever

-sw
 
On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 12:48:58 -0700 (PDT), Bryan
wrote:


The Fuddrucker's nearest me went out of business a couple of years
ago. Maybe that's why they had discounts.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 12:23:45 -0700 (PDT), aem
wrote:


I am a fan of both, though a customer of In-N-Out for a longer time.
Still, I am on the east coast, so don't get there more than twice a
year. They are great fun and do a nice burger.

Five Guys moved into the area a few years ago and they are really
terrific. It is true they have no drive-thru, but you can order online
and go pick it up, which makes it easy.

Boron
 
On 2011-04-08, sf wrote:


Aren't those the morons that did the DIY thing? A lot of those places
died, and for good reason. Trio's, A&Ws, etc.

"Hey! Here's my money. If I want to do it myself, I'll eat at home,
ya' friggin' morons!"

Finally found a comedian that does this bit. Bill Burr. Goes on an
on about assemble-yerself restaurants and DIY checkout at sprmkts.
Hilarious.

nb
 
On 8 Apr 2011 20:35:43 GMT, notbob wrote:

I have never been inside a Fudruckers. It was next to a movie theater
we go to and that's the only reason why I've even heard of them. It
looked like a Rockin' Robin to me. RR is something I haven't been to
in years. Why? I didn't like it enough to go back. Same with Red
Lobster, Elephant Bar and Sizzler.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.
 
On 8-Apr-2011, aem wrote:


I'm not east coast but I am middle-coast (on the banks of the mightly
Mississippi). When Five Guys came to town I was interested in trying them
because I had heard so many folks rave about them. I've tried them twice,
two locations and ---- ho-hum; to my taste, they are nothing special -
over-hyped and over-priced. Certainly non-chain burger palaces around town
beat them hands down and there are any number of chains that are as good or
better.

Never had In 'n Out; but, my take on Five Guys is more expensive, but no
better, than Carl Jr's (except the fries, they were slightly better than
Jr's).

Also, at one of the locations, the service was slower than that given by the
sloths at Del Taco. Service at the other location was slightly better.
Neither location was particularly busy when I visited.


--
"Calling an illegal alien an 'undocumented immigrant' is like calling a drug
dealer an 'unlicensed pharmacist' "

Change Cujo to Juno in email address.
 
In article , [email protected]
says...

Rockin' Robin? Do you mean "Red Robin"? If so, I tried the place once,
their burgers cost more than at the Friendly's across the street and the
one I had wasn't as good.

As for Fuddruckers, the closest one to me is at the Indian casino--that
tells me all I need to know about it.

Locally, they opened up a Red Lobster and an Olive Garden in identical
buildings side by side some years back. The Olive Garden is still going
strong but the Red Lobster lasted about a year--it's now a locally owned
bar and grill.
 
aem wrote:

When I lived in LA metro I used to like In'N'Out, the one close to me in
Pasadena and the one close to work facing the runway at LAX. I also
used to like the original Tommys on Beverly and Rampart and the one
close to me on Colorado in Eagle Rock.

Here in Chicago metro I tried Five Guys Burgers and Fries to see what
the buzz was about. The nearest one was in a location where the parking
was miserable. Inconveniently I recently read a review of a superior
BBQ place about two blocks away. Maybe I'll order to-go from there ...

The burgers are the flat style that's a little bit crispy around the
edge. It's a different burger style than the ones with so many
trimmings. The crispy surface is called something like "Maliard
reaction", right? If you like that it will matter. I like that but not
overwhelmingly so. The burger was fresh and tasty. Smaller than a
quarter pounder and I did not mind that either. The sauce was simple.
My wife was so-so about the bun that came with it. It was a little
more like grocery store buns than Tommys or In'N'Out but it was toasted.
Over all I figure the burger itself beat Wendys and largely matched
Carls Jr or Hardees. Other than the crispy surface that would be sure
to please some, I didn't get the raves about it. Good yes, raving good
no.

Then I bit into one of the fries. OMFG. They use the Brussels system
of cooking them twice at two different temperatures. I don't know if
they use two different oils. Cooked to perfection brown but not dark
brown. Crispy to the point of crunchy. The order taken from the
draining rack seconds before our order was called. If you want to find
better fries there's maybe one place in all of Chicago metro that
"might" be able to beat them by a *tiny* amount - And Hot Doug's only
does their duck fat fried fries one day per week. In most metro areas
you'd be lucky to find fries this good even at a super expensive
place. These fries stand out like Everest was transported to Kansas.

We left three quarters of the fries behind. As extraordinairly good as
they were, the portions were larger than we had any interest in. It was
tempting to eat until I was that scene near the beginning of Monty
Python's The Meaning Of Life and I exploded.

Simple decor on the inside. I wasn't there for the decor.

Go for the fries and enjoy the experience. That place in the open mall
in Santa Monica that had the top rated fries in the US closed in 1998 so
the competition for fries is completely over. Other fries places aren't
even in the dust. Oh yeah, and while you're there have a burger, too.
They are nice. It'll help complete the experience.
 
Guess I'm the minority here. I live about a mile from the original
Five Guys, and have five locations within easy range. And I've visited
a half-dozen In-n-outs in the last two years.

Both chains make equally crappy, well-done only hamburgers. Five Guys
are floating in a pool of oil; In-n-out lovers I know tell me that
they go there for the toppings, not the burgers themselves, and
usually order off-the-menu combinations. They do make excellent French
fries, but you have to eat them as soon as they're handed over.
Otherwise they steam and get soggy in the bag in about 30 seconds.

Fuddruckers makes good, bar-style burgers. Cooking accuracy is, of
course, dependent on the local staff and local laws ( For two years a
few years ago, ours weren't allowed to cook burgers less than medium.
Buusiness dropped off a cliff, so they changed the rules.)
Unfortunately, Fudds has awful rach-style fries.

Find a local bar that makes great burgers -- it should be easy. Or
make them yourself, better yet.

-- Larry
 
In article
,
aem wrote:


Son in AZ loves them. We've eaten there a couple times, once of
necessity, once of convenience. I like Culver's better. JMO.

--
Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
Holy Order of the Sacred Sisters of St. Pectina of Jella
"Always in a jam, never in a stew; sometimes in a pickle."
Pepparkakor particulars posted 11-29-2010;
http://web.me.com/barbschaller
 
On Fri, 08 Apr 2011 18:54:34 -0400, [email protected] wrote:


So you're in Vermont Larry? The Five Guys here make juicy burgers and the Cajun
fries are wonderful. I'm guessing it's a regional thing or that they've become
so complacent that they've lowered their standards. We have more restaurants by
capita than anywhere in North America, so if they lowered their standards here
it would be bye bye Five Guys.


--

Stu

Recipe of the week "Sooji Halwa"
http://foodforu.ca/recipeofweek.html

So much more than just a recipe website
 
On Fri, 08 Apr 2011 17:03:44 -0700, Dan Abel wrote:



We have that here, they are no more than twenty five feet apart, they even
share the same parking lot. They are full all day, it helps to have a huge
shopping mall across the street.


--

Stu

Recipe of the week "Sooji Halwa"
http://foodforu.ca/recipeofweek.html

So much more than just a recipe website
 
On Fri, 8 Apr 2011 21:35:36 +0000 (UTC) in rec.food.cooking, Doug
Freyburger wrote,

If that is the style of fries you like, remember to order your
In-N-Out "fries well done."
 
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