Five Guys Was Actually Six Guys and a Lady

**Michael Ornelas** (0:00)
How did Five Guys manage to get so huge without selling out? With a footprint in the thousands, Five Guys Burgers & Fries has become an international sensation, while keeping it in the family since its inception. Literally, as all five of the guys are in fact related to one another. Take that, the Doobie Brothers. You freaking wish your 23 and Mez had you sharing the same bloodline.
Taking customization to the extreme, Five Guys has over 250,000 ways to mix and match your free burger toppings. They've become an attractive franchise option for those looking to run a restaurant, so much so that former NBA megastar and the one true king of endorsing literally whatever, Shaquille O'Neal, once owned 155 Five Guys franchise locations. Legend has it that if you put a bag of Cajun fries beneath your pillow before going to sleep, Shaq will endorse your startup.
This week on the show, I'll crush my nuts of knowledge and leave them on the floor of your curiosity so that you too may know everything I've learned about Five Guys. Then we'll direct our attention to the people of Yelp to see what they're saying about the very Five Guys we dined at. This is the Fine Dining Podcast.

**Seif Rahoumi** (1:51)
I adore Shaquille O'Neal.

**Michael Ornelas** (1:53)
I do too. And realistically, it's just because of that little like shitty meme.

**Seif Rahoumi** (1:59)
Sure. There was a Halloween festival at the Queen Mary that was going on for years called Shaqtoberfest.
The theme was Shaquille O'Neal as like monsters. I don't understand, but it was the best time I've ever had in my life.

**Michael Ornelas** (2:15)
Incredible. Hello, and welcome to the Fine Dining Podcast, the quest to compare all restaurants to Chili's. I'm your host, Michael Ornelas, and this is the podcast where we dive deep into the history of your favorite restaurants and then thoroughly review them one week later by comparing them to Chili's.
This week, we are covering the number two seed in this year's Septembergur Tournament, Five Guys. And joining me is a friend and performer you can see performing with me every other Sunday night at the Shared Experience Studio in Hollywood, as well as with his team revenge dress at Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. He's as funny as he is untrustworthy in board games. It's Seif Rahoumi.

**Seif Rahoumi** (2:58)
I resent everything you just said. I want to be clear. You resent everything? I resent everything you just said.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:02)
You resent me telling people we're on a team together?

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:04)
I resent that. I resent you mentioning chilies.
I resent everything you just said. I thought you were my friend.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:12)
Okay. Thanks for coming on the podcast.

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:16)
No problem, buddy.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:19)
Do you have a history with Five Guys? Have you been much? Oh, yeah.

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:22)
I used to go to Five Guys a lot, actually. When I discovered it, I was like, this is the burger.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:27)
You discovered it.

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:28)
Yeah, I kind of found it. I was kind of the Christopher Columbus of Five Guys in that I didn't actually discover anything.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:34)
I just showed up one day and told all the Natives to leave.

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:38)
I did. I told everyone there to leave.
They did not listen, believe it or not. But yeah, I used to go an embarrassing amount. I would go weekly to Five Guys when I was younger, which I don't know how because I didn't have a job.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:51)
It's not cheap. Yeah.

**Seif Rahoumi** (3:54)
But it is good.

**Michael Ornelas** (3:55)
I feel like my history with Five Guys has been one of increasingly being impressed in that I was underwhelmed at first.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:04)
Okay.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:05)
It was a place that I just always was like, yeah, it's fine. It's a little overrated, but it's fine.
I think throughout the years, I've just come to appreciate it more. Yeah.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:17)
Has it changed or have you changed?

**Michael Ornelas** (4:19)
I think I've changed.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:19)
That's beautiful.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:20)
Yeah. I'm willing to admit that I've changed.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:23)
You're willing to take Five Guys.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:26)
There are more fries filling up to the brim of my bag of acceptance.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:31)
Oh my God, of your heart.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:32)
Yeah.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:32)
That's beautiful.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:33)
That sounds fatal.

**Seif Rahoumi** (4:36)
That's raw grease.

**Michael Ornelas** (4:37)
Yeah.
Anyways, that's my history with Five Guys and your history with Five Guys. Do you want to learn the history of Five Guys?