Five Guys has a curious reputation. On the one hand, people love it, and many a convert will regale you with all the reasons why you should head into its tiled establishments over McDonald’s or Burger King.
On the other, it’s a bit expensive. At the time of writing, a Five Guys Cheeseburger in London will set you back by £13.75 on Deliveroo, with the Hamburger being slightly less dear at £11.35.
However, its service is usually one of the selling points. It’s quick, efficient, and the staff are instructed to add extra fries to your bag as a little sweetener.
But for X user @peterdellapenna, falling foul of a Five Guy’s closing time was enough to launch a tirade on the social media platform.
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“England is hands down the most unfriendly customer service country I've been,” he said in the X post.
“Went to a @FiveGuysUK in Preston just before closing at 10. Got my food. Was chased out by manager at 1015 while still eating my food & told, ‘15 minutes is enough, you need to leave’. Never going back.”
10pm is a pretty late closing time, and those burgers are available to take away, but it seems the tourist was expecting to eat his burger at a leisurely pace while staff waited expectantly for him to finish.
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“If you're making a point about politeness, may I point out most British people would be aware it is impolite to keep people stuck at work and be respectful of that,” said a reply, defending the Five Guys staff for understandably wanting to go home at the scheduled time.
They added: “What you're saying sounds a lot like entitlement.”
Peter Della Penna, however, wasn’t done: “If a place in the USA says they close at 10, that means last customer inside/order at 10 & eat your food at a normal pace.
“If a place in England says they close at 10, that means they want the lights out and door locked at 10 or else they don’t want any part of your business.”
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You have to wonder what a ‘normal pace’ would amount to in this X user’s estimations. 15 minutes to eat a burger sounds like a pretty sedate speed, especially when you’ve got a team of workers waiting for you to finish the thing.
Some customers really think spending £15 entitles them to a red carpet. If this X user thinks their spending went unappreciated, he should try paying a UK water bill and seeing what gratitude it gets him.
Many more comments leapt to Five Guys’ defence.
“Turning up to a restaurant that closes at 10 and moaning that it shut at 10 really is something,” said one user.
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“Let the staff go home you f*****g narcissist,” said one comment that refused to mince its words.
“You absolute muppet!” rang another. “Taking 15 minutes to scoff a burger while the staff are itching to b**ger off home? Next time, shove it down quicker or sod off earlier don’t be a proper bell*nd keeping everyone waiting!”
Five Guys got back to the X user over his spilt milk to say: “Hi Peter, we're really sorry about this. Unfortunately due to licensing, some stores cannot have customers in the premises after a certain time. Please reach out to us if you have any further concerns.”
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A measured response indeed.
FOODBible has reached out to Five Guys for comment.
Topics: Fast Food, UK Food, Social Media
Rachael Davis