Five Guys to Open by End of Month

Five Guys Burgers and Fries will be opening their East Broad Street location by the end of the month, a spokeswoman for the burger store confirmed.

Five Guys spokeswoman, Molly Catalano, said the store, which is presently advertising a "now hiring" sign on their East Broad Street location, will open around July 28. She said this date is not firm but the burger restaurant will open this month. The opening is long awaited in Westfield as residents have been buzzing in person and on the Internet about the burger joint's impending arrival for months.

Catalano said this store will be the first to be opened in New Jersey by the franchise group operating this particular location. The group already has an established Five Guys presence in Long Island's Suffolk County and plans to open five locations in Union County. Catalano said the other locations in the county are not ready to be announced.

Five Guys originated in the Washington, DC, area and has spread to 450 locations nationwide in the last few years. The chain prides itself on its bare bones style, offering burgers, fries, hot dogs and several other sandwiches, along with Coca Cola products and no desserts. The chain started offering franchises in 2002. The chain has garnered publicity recently when President Barack Obama visited a northern Virginia location with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams and a camera crew to pick up lunch for the White House staff.

"We've got a cult following," Catalano said. "The visit from the president has given us great media coverage."

Catalano said the local franchises are encouraged to get involved in the local community. She said these decisions are left to the local franchise owner and she is not sure what is planned for the Westfield location.

The Five Guys opening comes in the wake of comments made at last week's Town Council meeting by local resident John Devitt opposing the opening of a Subway sandwich shop on Central Avenue across from Williams Sonoma. Devitt said he opposed the sandwich shop's locating in the downtown business district because it was a fast food restaurant. He called for a grassroots coalition of residents to unite to oppose Subway. Several local residents agree with Devitt in opposition to Subway.

Catalano said Five Guys is not a fast food restaurant but rather a part of the fast casual restaurant variety. Fast casual restaurants, by industry definition, differ from fast food by offering a slightly higher quality of food or atmosphere than a traditional fast food restaurant. Catalano said Five Guys achieves this by cooking food to order rather than having it already prepared. Other restaurants in Westfield claiming to be fast casual include Rockn' Joe and the Windmill, along with Cosi, which recently closed.

"We offer a great product at a high value and a good price," she said.