Entrepreneurial Leadership Paper - Assignment Example

Five Guys emphasizes service quality more than business profitability, as the management believes that this policy is the best way to meet customer expectations. Jerry Murrell, one of the co-founders of Five Guys, says that his business plan was simply to “sell a really good, juicy burger on a fresh bun. Make perfect French fries. Don’t cut corners” (as cited in Contemporary Business, 2012). The company is not ready to compromise its product quality despite the considerable amount of money and time it has to invest to sustain it.

The case study reflects that the company imported potatoes from northern Idaho regardless of the slow growth issues in order to obtain solid and tasty potatoes; and in contrast to this, the firm’s competitors imported cheaper and low quality potatoes from Florida or California (Contemporary Business, 2012). Similarly, when most of the fast food chains served dehydrated frozen fries to take advantages of size, Five Guys always provided its customers with fresh fries. It is observed that most of the other food chains tried to pool cheap raw materials in order to enhance wealth maximization.

This business philosophy benefited the organization in achieving high level customer loyalty. From the case study, it is obvious that customers patiently wait for burger even if its 17 different toppings are made to order and it is a time consuming task (Contemporary Business, 2012). Furthermore, Five Guys’ distinct philosophy helped the company to eliminate advertising expenses since the strategy itself was a sufficient asset to make customers advertise for the company. Analyze the original values of the start-up company and how it remains strong today Since the beginning, Five Guys has been successful, and it is one of the few food chains in America that remained unaffected by recent global recession (QSR Insights, 2012).

While seeking the reason, it is clear that the company’s strict policies have helped it to overcome various market difficulties throughout its history. In other words, original values for the start-up company still remain strong despite some negligible changes. As the company management had decided at the time of Five Guys foundation, the firm still continues to offer quality products and services to its customers. At the start up time, the company had decided not to use low quality ingredients or serve frozen food items to people.

Minimizing advertisement expenses and thereby passing savings to customers was another start up value of the firm. Even in the midst of the recent global recession, the company was not ready to use low quality ingredients for its food items. In addition, the company still focuses on its customer advertising strategy together with employee incentive schemes to promote its business. Even when the company began franchising in 2002, it was vigilant, insisting that franchisees do not use low quality products and do not render low quality services.

In order to ensure franchisees’ potentiality, the firm does not franchise to anyone unless the prospect operates a minimum of five restaurants. Throughout its history, the company received numerous awards for its efficiency and customer services. Most notably, the firm obtained Washington Magazine’s “Number 1 Burger” award for seven years (Contemporary Business, 2012). However, according to 2010 annual report by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, Five Guys’