Andie’s been raving about Five Guys so when the hamburger chain opened in Almaden we checked it out. And took along two of our favorite little people.Five Guys opened their first location in Arlington, Virginia in 1986. The five guys (Matt, Jim, Chad, Ben, & Tyler) are the five sons of founders, Jerry and Janie Murrell.
I read an Inc. magazine article where Jerry Murrell commented on finding a book about JW Marriott in his hotel room a few days before opening their first location. In the book, Bill Marriott Senior talks about his success with the Hot Shoppes chain and notes that “anyone can make money in the food business as long as you have a good product, a reasonable price, and a clean place.” So that is what Five Guys has tried to do.
We all agreed that the burgers were pretty good, possibly better than In & Out. But the best part of dinner was actually the commentary from Emily and Spencer.
When Brent quizzed Emily about starting preschool he used the word “school” and Emily looked nervous and made certain Brent understood the type of school she’s agreed to attend. Emily responded to Brent’s inquiry with an emphatic: “My school is just for little people, where everyone will be the same size as me!”
Clearly Jennifer has assured Emily that she’s not getting sent off to college, boarding school or even Van Meter Elementary. It seems Emily wants no part of school unless it’s a friendly place without frightening big people!
When we told Spencer we were delighted he came along and hoped he would come over to swim next week he’d said he could only join us for swimming as long as he didn’t have (his words): “interfering schedules. Because I have a lot going on right now.” We loved his comment since Spencer used to be the little boy who Andie could snag at a moment’s notice, back before he was on the swim team, cub scouts, etc.
It looks like our favorite little people are starting to grow up; Emily off to preschool this fall and Spencer with his busy calendar. Maybe we’ll have to bribe them for outings with the promise of Five Guys burgers & fries!
