Retail | Wholesale | Food | Beverage 2023: JERRY MURRELL

FOUNDER AND CEO, FIVE GUYS ENTERPRISES, ALEXANDRIA

Published August 30, 2023 by Virginia Business

Five Guys founder Murrell’s mother always told him, “If you can give a good haircut, or if you can serve a good drink at a bar, or if you can serve a good hamburger, you can always make money in America.”

His mom was right. Husband and wife Jerry and Janie Murrell opened a carryout burger joint in Arlington in 1986 with their four sons, and by 2001, the family owned five restaurants in the Washington, D.C., area. The “fifth guy,” their youngest boy, Tyler, was born in 1988. In 2002, Murrell, a University of Michigan economics graduate, began marketing Five Guys franchise opportunities.

Today, there are almost 1,700 Five Guys locations across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with another 1,500 in development. According to the chain, Five Guys restaurants serve up 165 million burgers each year.

In July, Five Guys moved its headquarters from Fairfax County to a renovated office building on Duke Street in Alexandria.

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