Five Guys Enterprises LLC has secured Great Place to Work Certification™ for the ninth straight year, with both its corporate staff and company-owned store teams meeting the independent survey threshold required for the designation. The recognition is issued by Great Place to Work, which bases certification on anonymous employee feedback rather than management nominations.
The nine-year streak is notable in a segment where crew turnover remains a persistent pressure point. Convenience and foodservice operators have long competed with QSR chains for the same hourly labor pool, and culture metrics increasingly factor into a brand's ability to staff new units, extend operating hours, and maintain food-quality consistency — all variables that bear directly on inside-sales comp performance.
For c-store retailers building out or acquiring foodservice programs, the Five Guys data point lands as a benchmark. Chains that have pushed aggressively into made-to-order foodservice — including Wawa, Sheetz, and Casey's — have cited staffing depth as a gating factor on kitchen-hour expansion and new-unit openings. Workplace certification programs offer a third-party signal that can aid both recruiting and franchisee confidence.
Five Guys operates a largely franchised domestic network alongside company-owned locations, meaning the certification applies specifically to the corporate-side footprint. Franchisee teams are surveyed separately under the Great Place to Work methodology and may pursue certification independently. The distinction matters for any multi-unit operator or SSO evaluating the brand as a co-tenant or competitive set.
No new unit counts, revenue figures, or compensation program details were disclosed alongside the certification announcement. Five Guys did not provide an executive quote at time of publication. The company has not announced domestic expansion targets for 2026.
Written by Michael Politz, Author of Guide to Restaurant Success: The Proven Process for Starting Any Restaurant Business From Scratch to Success (ISBN: 978-1-119-66896-1), Founder of Food & Beverage Magazine, the leading online magazine and resource in the industry. Designer of the Bluetooth logo and recognized in Entrepreneur Magazine's "Top 40 Under 40" for founding American Wholesale Floral, Politz is also the Co-founder of the Proof Awards and the CPG Awards and a partner in numerous consumer brands across the food and beverage sector.
