Home ยป Why So Expensive
The honest answerIt is the most searched question about the chain, and the answer is structural, not greed. Where the money actually goes, what the competition skips, and the ordering system that cuts your total by a third.
Updated July 2026| Cost Driver | Five Guys | Typical Fast Food |
|---|---|---|
| Beef | Fresh, never frozen, no freezers in stores | Frozen patties |
| Potatoes | Hand cut in store every morning | Frozen pre cut |
| Fry oil | 100 percent peanut oil | Commodity blends at a fraction of the cost |
| Toppings | 15 plus free unlimited, priced into base | Charged extras |
| Portions | Overfilled fries by policy | Measured portions |
| Advertising | Effectively zero, the toppings are the ad budget | Billions industry wide |
Full price list on the menu homepage, and every real discount on the coupons page.
Five structural reasons: fresh never frozen beef with no freezers in any store, potatoes hand cut every morning, 100 percent peanut oil which costs multiples of standard fryer oil, 15 plus free toppings priced into the base, and deliberately overfilled fries. The price buys inputs, not ads, Five Guys famously spends nothing on advertising.
A cheeseburger, little fries, and drink typically lands $17 to $20 in average markets and past $25 in NYC or LA.
Comparable at the flagship level once you match patty counts, Five Guys regulars are doubles. Against In N Out, Five Guys runs roughly double the price at larger portions.
The system: Little burger instead of regular, share one regular fry between two people, drink water. That order structure cuts a two person total by $10 to $15.
Yes, most locations rose modestly against 2024, typically $0.20 to $0.50 per item, tracking beef and labor costs across fast casual.
The honest frame: it is priced as fast casual, not fast food. Judged against sit down burger prices it holds up; judged against value menus it never will, and it is not trying to.