Five Guys Debuts In UK

Five Guys has crossed the pond. While the United States celebrated its independence last week, the chain opened its first unit in the United Kingdom. The freezer-free burger chain’s debut London unit is in Covent Garden; a second outlet will open in August in Reading, and it’s rumored in the British press that two additional London-area sites have been secured in Shepherd’s Bush and Islington.

The initial plan is for five outlets in and around London before expanding across Britain. Five Guys tops nearly every list—including those of Technomic and Forbes—of fastest-growing U.S. restaurant chains; it has doubled its number of stores since 2009. The family business, which started in 1986 in Washington, D.C., has more than 1,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada.