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Virginia-based Five Guys has long prided itself on a menu that is so simple it originally missed an element considered vital for burger chains: Milkshakes.
Indeed, one of the company's executives had famously told a conference audience that the chain would "never" add shakes to its menu.
"Never" arrived in 2014 when Five Guys began testing shakes in some markets after a franchisee showed they'd work in his own stores.
The company has been gradually adding shakes at more locations ever since. Today, 800 of the chain's 1,400 units have shakes, including all the new ones.
"Why didn't you make us do this earlier?" founder Jerry Murrell said in an interview with NRN this week. "It's been big-time for us."
Shakes aren't the only thing Five Guys is using to spur growth. The company is developing more locations in international countries.
In the last three years, Five Guys has found fertile ground in Europe and the Middle East, and is now turning to Asia and Australia for new development to build on that success. The company expects to expand its international footprint from eight countries to more than 30 over the next five years.
"We always knew international was going to be a strong opportunity,"...