By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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MACHESNEY PARK — A chain restaurant known for its hand-formed burger patties, hand-cut fries and complementary peanuts to snack on while you wait has opened a new location at the corner of North Second Street and West Lane Road.
Five Guys opened its doors at 11 a.m. Monday at 10055 N. Second St., next to Tropical Smoothie Cafe in a three-tenant building developed by First Midwest Group. The company that will fill the third and final space in the building has not been determined.
“Our big motto is there’s no freezers in our restaurant at all,” said Jeremy Young, area manager for Five Guys. “Nothing gets shipped in. We form the patties by hand every morning, cut the fries by hand, break up the lettuce by hand, cut tomatoes by hand, and that’s really the secret to what we do. There’s nothing frozen, nothing’s made before hand.”
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Local dignitaries and The Parks Chamber of Commerce gathered outside the restaurant Monday to celebrate the ribbon cutting.
Karen and Robert Winkleman of Rockford were out shopping Monday and stumbled into being the new location’s first customers.
“We just wanted to come in. We didn’t plan on being first,” Robert Winkleman said. “It’s not really like fast food. It’s cooked different. You get to watch them cook. They’re not hidden in the back. It’s just a nice place.”
Five Guys also has a location at 6820 E. State St., unit B, in Rockford. That’s one of about 40 in Illinois.
Five Guys was founded in 1986 in Arlington, Virginia, by the Murrell family after Janie and Jerry Murrell challenged their four sons to start a business or go to college. They later had a fifth son, and all five of the Murrell children are still involved in the franchise.
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Five Guys began franchising in 2003, and added more than 300 restaurants in the first 18 months.
There are now more than 1,600 Five Guys locations across North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East, according to the company. An additional 1,500 units are in development.
Young said the company has stayed committed to its original vision of providing burgers made with fresh ground beef. The chain only uses peanut oil for cooking, and it has no freezers in its restaurants, only coolers.
“It’s high-quality lettuce, high-quality ground beef, but it’s the way we prepare it — the way we treat it and the way we, of course, cook it — that really sets it apart,” Young said.
About | Five Guys in Machesney Park
Where: 10055 N. Second St., Machesney Park
Opening date: Monday, Oct. 23, 2023
Hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily
Phone: 815-305-9214
On the web: restaurants.fiveguys.com/10055-n-2nd-st
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas