Five Guys UK CEO John Eckbert: Trading ‘really unpredictable and really different’

Five Guys UK CEO John Eckbert has described reopening the entire estate for dine-in as a “fairly modest, incremental step”, having remained open for takeaway for the majority of lockdown.

Speaking on MCA’s The Conversation, Eckbert said keeping takeaway online meant the brand had already redesigned its store format to make it safe for customers to come in, making dine-in a less challenging step.

He said the pandemic had turned usual typical site performance expectations on their head, with Leicester Square still currently 80% down, with new “hero stores” emerging, in places like Maidstone or Ashton-under-Lyne and Rushden lakes.

Eckbert said the UK and European business had invested in enhanced extraction systems, to better control airflow in its kitchens, and protect its staff, “to a level that is probably unusual in the industry”.

Meanwhile, the brand was already known pre-covid for its enhanced hygiene, with staff wearing gloves, and daily store deep cleans, something he said customers had been reassured by.

Explaining how Five Guys UK had reopened all restaurants for dine-in, Eckbert said: “As soon as we could allow customers into the dining room we have, and I guess what really helped this was that we were already open for takeaway service.

“We had already redesigned the interior of the restaurants to reflect all of the government provisions for to make it safe for customers to come back come back in store and to order food to pick up their food and to leave.

“So the incremental aspect of having customers sit down in the dining room and eat was actually a fairly modest incremental step for us, because we had been open for takeaway and delivery pretty much throughout.

“As soon as we could, we allowed and welcomed customers to come and sit in the stores as well. Of course, that’s at reduced capacity because we can’t use all of the chairs and tables in the full fully loaded format that we had before covid. But, all of our dining rooms are open for trading.”

He said trading had been “really unpredictable and really different”.

Having been accustomed to 80% in store sales, Eckbert said “suddenly, you go to zero percent of in store sales”.

As well as footfall dropping off, high profile flagship locations had no staff to operate the stores.

He added: “Being flexible was really important for our ability to adjust to the conditions of lockdown.

“I think it was really important to be able to react quickly to the new conditions and to adjust our style of service to our customers.”