Five Guys CEO Jerry Murrell recently admitted to a significant screw-up with the burger chain’s 40th-anniversary promotion, which led him to send a hefty $1.5 million bonus to his stores as an apology. The company had attempted to celebrate its four-decade milestone earlier this year, but the promotion quickly went sideways, leaving many customers disappointed and the CEO fearing for his safety.
The popular burger joint, known for its incredible burgers and those ridiculously generous amounts of fries in your bag, decided to run a buy-one-get-one-free deal throughout February. While it sounded like a fantastic way to thank customers for 40 years of loyalty, the demand proved to be far more than anyone anticipated. Stores across the United States were quickly overwhelmed, running out of burgers and leaving staff scrambling.
Speaking about the incident in an interview with Fortune, the 82-year-old CEO joked that he genuinely worried about the fallout. “I didn’t want anybody shooting me in the back or anything after the first day, because we really screwed it up,” Murrell said, perhaps alluding to the assassination of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. He added, “We had no idea that we were going to get that kind of response.”
To make amends for the colossal blunder, Murrell decided to put his money where his mouth is
He sent a $1,000 bonus to each of the 1,500 Five Guys locations across the country, totaling a cool $1.5 million. Murrell even quipped about his personal sacrifice for the employees. He stated, “I was gonna buy my wife a new fur coat, and I spent it on [the bonus] instead. She still looks at me like I’m stupid. But I thought it was worth it. They worked so hard. They were so overwhelmed.”
Five Guys also issued a public apology online to its customers for the mix-up. “You visited our restaurants in overwhelming numbers, and we weren’t ready for you,” the company’s statement read. They added, “We didn’t meet our own standards, and that’s not something we take lightly.” It’s refreshing to see a company admit its shortcomings so directly, when we have seen companies even gaslighting their own customers.
Thankfully, for those who missed out, the company confirmed that they would re-run the popular promotion for a few days in March, giving US customers another shot at that sweet BOGO deal. Murrell expressed genuine appreciation for the customer response despite the initial hiccup.
He noted, “We were genuinely humbled by the response. Forty years is a long time, and the outpouring of support for our 40th birthday reminded us why we love what we do.”
Published: Mar 30, 2026 05:15 pm