YouSaid · the spoken record

John Eckbert

lines on the record: 104
first: 2022-08-11
most recent: 2022-08-11
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Yeah, well, I mean, the first question is in-store leadership. Who's leading the store? Are they the right person? Do they have the right orientation? Do they have the right values? Are they trained enough to do their job well? So we have a very flat organization where you go from general manager to district manager area manager and then basically the top of the business. So it's pretty quick. And I do what's called a mid-year review. I'm actually missing a couple to be on your podcast today. But we have every GM stand and present. There are stores performance once a year in June, July, August in that timeframe. And so I get a view of the in-store leadership. Who is that human being? Who's in charge of that store? What do they have to say about the results that they've delivered, both from a financial perspective, most of all from a customer service perspective and a quality perspective?”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so we mystery shop every store twice a week. And we put the money that we would typically, that other brands would spend on advertising. We spend an incentive compensation for crew. So we pay out millions and millions of pounds of incentive compensation to crew to be the best of the best. And we grade, so the mystery shop looks like 120 points of what's important from a burgers and fries perspective, from a cleanliness perspective, from a customer service perspective. And the top rated shops that perform get paid incentive compensation, meaningful incentive compensation. So I'd say that back to the competitiveness, everybody wants to get paid. Everybody wants to compete for that excellence and to be recognized for that. So mystery shopping, I think, is a fantastic way of ensuring that we're all focused on the same thing.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“From a detail perspective, I don't want to get into the details of my IT guy or my marketing team or the property team. I've hired people who are fantastic at that and I don't want to be into the details. I can't be into the details of each of those professional expertise that you hire for. You have to hire talent and let them do their professional expertise.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, first of all, I think being operationally focused is something that. Defines your business. And for us, so our details are the standards for cooking burgers and fries. And you can never focus on that enough. And if you're not actually cooking burgers and fries, you better be supporting someone who is in the business. So that kind of horrible disconnection that you can sometimes have of a head office, people who call it the head office, we call it the back office from the actual business. To me, it is the death knell for certainly for a food and beverage business. So having that connectivity to the detail of the purpose of our business, which is feeding hungry customers, is to me is essential.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“So, I know it never feels like that to say, you know, look, I'm doing you a favor by telling you not to work here anymore. But if you know someone's not going to be successful in your business, it is best for everybody to do that quickly as soon as you can, actually.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“What the hell is this? Yeah, and it's really just a box, and please, you probably should leave now in America more than not. It feels like. But I think once you've made that decision, you can't move soon enough. And it's rare that someone that you would consider it to say, I really don't think they're right for the job and that that person kind of recovers to being a superstar, right? That almost never happens. So if you do have that, I'm not sure that. I'm not sure this person's right for the business, either from a talent perspective or from a cultural fit perspective. I think you need to listen to that urge because it's probably right. And actually, it's a favor to that human being as well, because whether it's talent or if it's a cultural fit, there may be a fantastic opportunity elsewhere for them. And all you're doing is holding them back.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Quick is really important in my book. There is a bit of a difference between the UK and the US. The US has a favors that quick side of things. And I think I probably fall into that category. And that can be a challenge in an environment where there's like, you know, what about a six-month garden leave? I'm not sure what a garden leave. So I launched it.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“First of all, I think you have to make the decision that's best for the business in realizing that this business is bigger than any of us, including me. I'm hired and fired by my board, Charles and the Morells can decide any day that I'm not the right guy to lead the business going forward. And certainly at the executive level, to me, my expectation is that everyone should have that expectation. It's a privilege to have the jobs that we do. It's not a right. And if there's a tough decision to be made, making it clearly, cleanly, and directly is the best thing, there's no reason to be negative about it. You have to be, but you do have to be very direct about it.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We have to make the hard calls. Are you going to value the same things that I will and that we do as a company to make your decision?”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The worst part of the business. Really hard. If you get it wrong, it's so painful. These are people who you know who are human beings. And if the job's either outgrown them or they were the wrong cultural fit, it's really, obviously it's hard for them, but it's a soul crushing moment, which makes it that much more important to hire right and to interview for culture. But when an interview finally gets to my level, I am 100% focused on culture. I mean, the whole qualification of their professional skills has been addressed by the time they get to me. And I am solely focused on are you a good cultural fit? Are you the kind of person who obviously is good at what you do, but are you going to be when we're in the trenches and when the chips are down?”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“A new store hugely important because they're actually going to be making the burger and fry for the customer who walks in there. And I think that it's probably an urban myth, but the Shackleton story about putting an ad in the paper for his South Pole expedition, it's going to be dangerous and risky. We'll probably may not come back alive, but if we do, it'll be glory. That kind of negative cell, I think was a critical point for us where Five Guys is a really hard job. Huge expectation, physically demanding job. It's not for everybody. And stating that, being confident enough to say, look, you're a very talented human professional in food and beverage, but you're just not the right fit for us. And being the confidence to say no in that regard, that was hard. But I think that was a real turning point in the business wars.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“First of all, I think we had the benefit of seeing the success of five guys in the US. So Charles and I had a conviction that even before we opened the first store, of course, we were nervous when we opened it, but that we thought we had a tiger by the tail because we thought the product was fantastic. So we were able to assemble people who were proven to be really good at what they did from the outset in kind of like across the board and the senior management team. So Julie Speer, who's my head of operations. Unbelievable. We wouldn't be where we are without her. Richard Collier, who's head of property. I mean, he opened up 2,400 stores for Carfrom Warehouse all across Europe, really established professional. Those two were essential. We would never be where we are without those two individuals. But then kind of driving that all the way down to the first crew person who you hire in a new...”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Burgers and fries, but how to manage people. There's so many different kinds of people that it takes to make a restaurant work. How you communicate with one crew member may be very different from how you communicate and motivate with another one. And giving our managers tools for how to connect with all different kinds of people who work for them is an important investment that we make.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Communication to the whole company was really powerful. Kind of cut through a lot of the fear and uncertainty about it. One. Two is that we're now investing massively in learning and development. 75% of our managers are promoted internally. So these are people who have joined us. We have people who have joined as crew and gone on to be district manager's area managers now. So that kind of career opportunity is fantastic. So if you're ambitious, if you have career goals, come to five guys because we're growing and we need your talent to grow the business. So being able to, first of all, we know that that internal development is kind of the best path to growing inside of five guys and having new leaders for all the restaurants that we're opening. We've got to invest in the young people who are joining five guys and teaching them not just”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, well, I think the first thing was a card from Deck that you played was we launched an app right within a week of the pandemic flying. We had been planning to have an employee-oriented app. But we launched the app right when the pandemic struck. We were like, we have to be able to communicate because none of us knew what was happening. And being able to be in direct touch with every human being in the business was such a great tool. And we immediately had like massive down. I mean, it was universally kind of accepted as a way to communicate with inside the company. So I was recording something pretty much every day to say, you know, here's what's going on, here's what the rules are, here's why it's going to be safe to come to work. Here's how we're going to protect you and your family and the crew and the customers in this environment. And being able to have that direct line of”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“The solution family oriented, taking care of people, having a sense about the human beings who are on your crew and the hungry people who are coming into your store and treating them like family, then getting it done. Not overcomplicating it. Our businesses, our menu simple, our business is simple. Comparatively surfed through the pandemic, it was because we taught those values and we all absorb those values into how we thought. And then when you had to be agile and nimble and flexible, you knew what the objective of the business was. all the managers just beautifully adjusted their business to reflect the opportunities that they could take.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Trying to find what that right fit is. And so I remember it was a really important decision we made where we're essentially going to invert the equation. And we said, five guys is a really hard job. And it's probably not for you. And then kind of be quiet and look for the woman or the guy who kind of raised her hand and said, that kind of sounds good to me. working at five guys i think was a really important distinction that we made but once you get into five guys we have five values that that we build our business on and that's integrity you can't once you lose your integrity everything else is easy so having integrity and how you lead being competitive and you know wanting to win and going after the business being enthusiastic having passion and positivity and looking for”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I guess we do actually have values that we identify with inside the business. And hiring right is essential. I mean, there's so many talented food and beverage professionals who are really good at their job, but who are a terrible fit for us. And so being able to find those human beings who work in a five guy. So a general manager works in the restaurant with customers, with crew, making burgers and fries, resolving problems and issues. There's not a laptop job in a five guys. So someone who's looking for kind of a kind of ice skate above things and not really getting your hands dirty, that's not the right fit for us. So I guess the first thing we did was when we opened up, nobody knew who five guys were. So we had to beg people to work for us. And of course that's always a mistake. We hired a lot of the wrong people and you have a lot of churn early on.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Really good at identifying and qualifying those people who can run a store and bring that passion into a store. That's been the secret of the growth of the business because having that kind of commitment from the person who's showing up and running a shift, that's what makes this restaurant successful.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And my personal style is a very hands-off style of management. I mean, if you expect me to micromanage you, we've gotten off and it's the wrong place, the wrong fit. We hire professionals who are really good at what they do and let them do their job. And finding those people who are absolutely operators. I'd say the other bit is that we are very operations led. I was a banker before this, but I'm fully qualified in a five guys kitchen. So I can do every task that you see in making burgers and fries. I'm certified to do that. There are people who are much better at it than I am, could do it much faster than I can. But if you have any credibility in the business, you have to be operationally capable. And hiring operationally capable people who are”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It did. When it launched. It did, yeah, by far. I mean, we underwrote it for like a five and a half year payback. It paid back in two years. I mean, it was just a phenomenal success. But yeah, I mean, the thing that kept me up at night was, you know, how can we make sure that we opened up in Milton Keynes, we opened up in the smallest, you know, we're going to open up a store in St. Andrews. How do we make sure that those stores have people who are absolutely passionate about burgers and fries and taking care of hungry customers? And that I will say has been one of the biggest surprises of my tenure in this business is that we've actually gotten better. And the key to that is hiring very talented professionals and trusting them.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Gosh, even that, you know, that was my primary concern when I was, Charles and I structured the joint venture together. We hired the first employees and opened the first restaurant. And it had such amazing momentum. It was just kind of this explosion of five guys and it was really fun to be a part of. The kind of thing that keeps you up is, okay, we're going to grow this business as fast as we can because we know we have something. How are we going to keep the intensity and the energy and the passion that we see in the store in Cumen Garden? How do we make sure that every one of these restaurants has that kind of intensity? And that”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Almost all of our customers also go to McDonald's. If you look at the frequency of five guys, McDonald's has huge frequency, eight times more a year, which actually ends up being, you know, people go there a lot. And five guys' frequency is much lower than that. And five guys is a treat. It's not something like a competitor of mine that I think very highly of, you know, Prett's done an amazing job with who they are. You can go to Prett pretty much every day, right? And the subscription coffee stuff, you know, all that kind of stuff works on a routine basis. You can't go to five guys every day. I mean, I go to five guys pretty close to it. Eat a burger, that kind of frequently. But most of the customers are going a couple times a year. From a frequency perspective, I think that's what... Makes five guys a treat and special.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I mean, it's funny, McDonald's, I would say, is actually a really strong competitor. They give you what they say on the 10. Is it clear?”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, it is trendy, but I can't imagine it ever going out of trend. I mean, you know, so I know there are restaurant concepts where you walk into their kitchen and there's little bank of microwaves and they like kind of pull this stuff out and pop them in the microwaves. I can't imagine that anyone would ever go, let's go back to that. I think fresh is now an enduring expectation across price points. I mean, if you can have a five guys that's incredibly obsessively fresh, why would you not if you could?”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Gosh. Well, you know, all I can say is that I think part of it is the most enduring concepts will survive. And I think if you look at five guys, five guys wasn't successful because we put a slice of avocado on a burger. So there was nothing trendy about five guys. The kind of the 15 toppings that you can put on a burger, whether it's grilled onions or mushrooms or cheese and lettuce, tomatoes. Oh,”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, you mean you have a customer who wants a great burger, and they happen to be watching the football match, and they're like, I am not leaving my chair, right? I'm watching the football match, but I want the best burger I can possibly get. So that customer you can still reach.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Indeed. And actually, in the Morrell's defense, they've become successful, who they are is saying no to change. When everybody told them they should do a chicken sandwich, everybody told them they should do a salad. They were like, no, no, no, it's too complicated. We take our eye off the bowl and the kind of core of what we do. And helping them to discern that delivery actually is okay. You can be the best burgur being delivered.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Before I went to America for sure. But we convinced them that all of the better restaurant concepts were actually heading towards delivery. And so, gosh, five, six years ago now, we started, we launched delivery in the UK, and it really worked. It kind of became about 20% of our sales. And they saw that, of course, it's not as good as right off the grill, but it actually is a good product, and people like it, and it can work. And if you work with your delivery and you have a commitment from your delivery partner to take care of the food as it's transported to the customer, it can really work. And we did a lot of stuff, like, you know, telling people to turn your oven on 200, pop the fries in for just a couple minutes. It'll really liven them up before you eat them. So they saw that it worked here, and they picked it up. And of course, during the pandemic, it was our lifeblood. It would have been a very different journey if there hadn't been delivery in the system. But we've been able to convince the Morels that some of those things that were rules of the brand before”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“That's next level thinking, Steven. And actually, one thing we have been able to do is to... Encourage the Morles to widen their thinking a bit and delivery was a great example of that, where they opened up a store near the Pentagon and a general called up Jerry and said, I'd like a thousand burgers at noon. And Jerry bought a big sign and hung it up, no delivery and put it on the side of the building. And the thesis was right, which is that our burgers and fries taste best right off the grill. It's the best food experience you can get. But we convinced him that actually it wasn't just your cheap local guy who was delivering food. It was actually really high quality food. And more and more people were actually looking for really good food delivered.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I'm responsible for $225 restaurants now and 8,600 people a day get up and put on a red shirt and go into work in a five guys. And whether those people who are actually shaken fries and grilling burgers care about the product that they're making, the food that they're cooking, that's all. That's really good. That doesn't move the dial. Nothing happens. It has to be fantastic. You know, I'm going to go tell somebody who else, who do I know who likes good food? I'm going to tell them about a burger or a fry, you know, the fries at five guys. It has to be that level good. And you only get that level good with people who pour their passion and their care into the food that they're preparing. And having that many people care about burgers and fries is the, you know, I think what makes us successful.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It's real tempting, isn't it? When you think about the dashboard that most Food and beverage executives have. You have an advertising dial that you can choose the quality of your messaging and the budget that you put in it and the way that you spend it. And all those dials are gone and off the table. So it does focus you on the things that you can do, which is making great burgers and fries, hiring people who are passionate about it. Kind of back to the whole people thing, the people who are in the store make such a difference. Food fundamentally is about passion. We all have, you know, you remember the great food experiences that you've had. You talk about them and it becomes part of your, you know, if you're on holiday having great food is part of that experience. And having a passion about food is so important.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“We knew that we weren't going to be advertising. So if you can't tell people about who you are, you have to rely upon the footfall and that, which essentially becomes a word of mouth accelerator. So if you have a lot of people walking by your store, some will make the decision to come in. And then that larger group who comes in then kind of tells everybody else. And that's really the way the business grew and worked.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“It was a category winner. It was the best that we could find. But it was positioned from a property perspective and mostly in strip centers and kind of bee locations in America. And we thought, let's give it the property presence that it deserves. And I think that positioning was a really important distinction that we made. Richard Collier, who owns our property, has done a fantastic job of picking the flagship locations to say there isn't a better premium burger than five guys and we're going to make sure that you discover us partly because of where we are.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And everybody talks about burgers. And it's one of those very articulate communities. And there's a lot of debate about who has the best burger and why it's the best burger. And five guys is in that debate, in that mix. And so we're really fortunate for that. And actually, when Charles and I were... Thinking about who to do business with. It really was when Charles flew over and went to five guys in Manhattan was like, this is fantastic. The product's fantastic. One thing that we did really differently in the UK was the property approach. We thought the product was.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Recommendation at a time. And I can remember Covent Garden was the very first five guys outside of the US. And we'd spent a lot of money paying for the bar that was there to leave and then building the first five guys. And we were quite nervous. We were well into seven figures for the first store. The night before opening, we were like, What happens if nobody comes? And Jerry Morell laughed and said, you know, look, you've picked a good location. Someone's going to walk by here and they'll walk in. We'll make them a great burger and they'll tell their neighbors and it'll be fine. And of course there was a queue at 4 a.m. in the morning and there was a queue around the building for the first two years that the business was open until we opened up more or five guys around there.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, no, I mean, I think part of the original founding of the business, Jerry Morell picked a very obscure location and said, look, if we can make this location work, we know we have something. It almost was like a speakeasy. We're like, you know, knock three times and someone will open the slide window and you give the secret word and then you come in. And so five guys kind of had a little bit of that kind of coolness factor of like, hey, let me tell you about five guys. It's amazing. And maybe you haven't heard of it, certainly haven't seen it on TV or on the radio, but it's amazing. And if you come find out. So, you know, when Barack Obama left the White House in his limo to go pick up five guys for his office, that was a great example of how, of course, everybody knows who he is. And that's kind of like a megaphone. But that's how five guys was discovered. That's how five guys built its business was one.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Five guys doesn't advertise, so there literally is no way for us to tell someone who doesn't know five guys what we're about or what makes us different or special. We're entirely relying on someone walking into the restaurant seeing how the food is prepared, tasting a great burger and fry and then telling their neighbors or their friends, you know, he look, you've got to try this. So having an open kitchen where you can see that freshness and the customization I think has been part of the success of the business.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“An example of how Americans want things just the way they want them. But I think that's been a newer thing to Europe. The chef should know Chef tell me how I should order this and saying, no, no, it should be exactly the way you want it. And I think that trend is certainly the millennials are very much on to that. I want it exactly the way that I want it. And Five Guys is really ready for that. The whole machine is like I liken it to putting a Ferrari engine on top of an oxcart and then racing it around a track. So we're very old school, very analog in our In our production. It's very manual. Everything's handmade. And yet we can do a 4,000 pound hour out of Oxford Circus making burgers and fries. You'll see kind of”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And having something exactly the way that you want it. We have 15 free toppings, which means that you can have every burger 250,000 ways just by the combinations of those toppings. And everything is made by hand just for you. We don't cook anything until Stephen walks in and says, you know, this is the burger that I want. Now the challenging thing is that as soon as you've placed your order, there's 249,999 wrong ways to make your burger. So the customer, one aspect of customer service is getting that right the first time. But customization was new, I think. I mean, in America, you know, it goes back to Harry Met Sally and the way she ordered her salad in the restaurant.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“No, I think that's very, I think you're very right about that. Our fries have three ingredients in it. Potatoes, the peanut oil we cook it in, and a dash of salt. Some of our competitors have like 16, 19 ingredients in their fries. You're like, what else could there be in fries? So from our perspective, our fries start as potatoes in the beginning of the day. They're hand wash, hand-cut, and then twice cooked to a very specific standard. And just keeping it, again, just keeping it simple. And I think it's very much, I think they position themselves in front of a tidal wave without knowing it. And that trend of freshness, I think, was a huge win for the family. I think the other thing that they did, which was very early on trend, even early for when we found it here in the UK, was customization.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Anyone across the UK looked for and determining where you were going to eat was the freshness of the food. And whether it was white tablecloth or at a fast food place, it didn't matter. That was the most important criteria. And that was like the Morel's thesis that everything had to be freshly prepared that day where it went.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“You have to have chicken. You can't just have a burger on your menu. And they're like, When we add other stuff to our menu, it just blows our mind. We lose focus on making a great burger. And so I think part of their genius has been focus. We're going to do just one thing and do it really well. I mean, that was the thesis for the founding of the business was if you're going to have your mom over and make burgers, what would you do? You would buy the highest quality ingredients you possibly can. You'd make everything fresh. That was, I think, the Morels were so far ahead of their time when they founded the business in 1986 because there's literally not a freezer in the five guys equipment infrastructure. Everything is obsessively fresh. And right before we signed the joint venture to bring them here, there was a study done that said the number one criteria that”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I think it starts with the product. It's such a simple, fantastic product. It's just birds. The menu is like shockingly stark. I mean, it is burgers and fries, and that's it. But when you take a bite out of a five guys burger, when you have fries that are cooked exactly right, it's magical. And it's fantastic. I mean, it's a world-beating product. That was, I think, so many concepts have gone broad, you know, like, you know, there's so many concepts in America, like you can get everything in the menus like a Bible. And, you know, you kind of flip through the section. You're like, how can they possibly be repairing all this stuff at the top of the game? And five guys was going completely against that, which was, you know, everybody told the Morel family, you know, you have to have a salad if you're going to be.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Yeah, so we talked with a lot of different concepts and still in contact with a lot of those concepts. And some of them have been really helpful in terms of building the Five Guys business here. So if you can use insight from another concept that maybe isn't a competitor or isn't here, that can be really helpful. And some of those still may come to play.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Concept that wasn't in the UK that we thought could bring that expertise. We could bring the kind of operational UK property knowledge and hiring practices and market knowledge and partner with someone who would bring that food and beverage experience into the proposition. We talked to so many U.S. concepts that weren't here. It eventually kind of collided with the Morell family. There actually are five brothers and their mom and dad. So there's seven in the family. But five brothers who are the five guys who founded the business. And they were looking to go global having pretty much allocated the U.S. amongst their franchisees.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“And began thinking a bit more as an investor. And we got to talking and thinking, what's the next big business opportunity that we could leverage his experience and reputation in retail? But we wanted something that Amazon wasn't. Segment that's a bit more protected from the online world. You kind of have to show, this is before delivery kind of blew up. You kind of have to show up and eat your food where it's prepared more. So we thought that that would protect you from the online competitive world, but we didn't know anything about food and beverage. Neither of us did. And so we went looking for a great”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Well, I had been a student here a long time ago and lived in a tiny basement one room flat, much smaller than this studio is. And Charles lived upstairs with his sister and girlfriend, and they invited me up for drinks one day. And they pretty much adopted me for my year abroad. And we went to their parents' home in Cambridge and to Norfolk for a holiday. So they really made England feel like a home. And I always was always my ambition to return with a non-student's budget to England. And so the chance came in 2010 and moved back here. And Charles had just spun talk talk out from Carfone Warehouse. And so I guess you can't be CEO of two publicly traded businesses. So he became... Chairman of both and CEO of neither.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“I think so. I think if you have something in abundance, you take it for granted maybe. And it was something that I definitely didn't have and that I very much felt an outsider looking in. And I saw this other people had community, other kids had community and kind of broad-based friendships and a sense of really kind of relaxed belonging. And I kind of always had this kind of anxious drive that, you know, looking for that. And I think business was certainly lived that out in the business world as well.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT
“Taking care of other people or doing something that had some greater purpose to it than kind of just making money. But that seed of a thought that being in business could actually be a noble profession and you actually could do something important to make people's lives better and take care of people in a different way in business was kind of, I think, an important penny to drop for me when I was 18. But yeah, it was definitely a different upbringing than most. And that sense of belonging was something I've been searching for my whole life.”
2022-08-11 · The Diary of a CEO · Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT