Five Guys Burgers and Fries

[JimSawhill]

^It's true, if you get food from Five Guys to go you could seen more grease spots on the bag than if you were to get food from McDonald's!

Can't believe that...

[ynkeesfn82]

Five Guys is hoping to open in 2016 in the former Panera Bread location in Town Line Square in Meriden, Connecticut.

Chain hamburger restaurant to fill Panera vacancy in Meriden

Published: November 13, 2015 | Last Modified: November 13, 2015 10:23PM
By Molly Callahan Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN â€" Five Guys Burgers and Fries will replace Panera Bread at Townline Square on South Broad Street.

Panera Bread, a national sandwich and soup chain, is moving into a newly constructed building adjacent to Chick-fil-A on North Colony Road (Route 5) in Wallingford. As part of the move, Panera closed its location in Townline Square less than a mile north on Route 5 up the road in Meriden on Thursday.

A Five Guys representative tweeted Friday in response to the question of whether it was opening a location in Townline Square. “Yes! We hope to have it open next year!”

Five Guys moving in is “good news” for Meriden, city Economic Development Director Juliet Burdelski said. “Everyone I know loves Five Guys. Of course it’s disappointing about Panera moving, but it’ll be right down the street.”

Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened in the Washington, D.C. area in 1986, and soon spread from there, according to the company’s website. There are more than 1,000 locations in 47 states and six Canadian provinces, with more than 1,500 other locations in development.

The chain has 22 locations currently in the state, with the closest being two in New Haven and one in Middletown.

The company prides itself on using “fresh ground beef,” and not using anything frozen, according to the website.

Jacob Berger, of Hampton Properties of Montreal, Canada â€" the company hired to manage Townline Square â€" said Friday morning that negotiations were underway with a “big chain in the state” to fill the space.

Because the lease negotiations are ongoing, Berger said he couldn’t disclose details about the restaurant. He did say that it would “occupy about three-quarters” of the Panera restaurant space. He also characterized the new business as “a hamburger restaurant.”

Berger estimated an opening by mid-2016.

Roseanne P. Ford, vice president of membership services for the Midstate Chamber of Commerce, noted the quick turnaround time for the location.

“It’s great news to have the space filling so fast. It’s great that that plaza is just booming and bustling with tremendous activity. Hopefully that’s a good sign that things are turning around in this area,” she said.

Burdelski said, “This is a popular chain, so it shows that Townline is a strong entity and they can sell space there. There’s always turnover in retail, but they and the mall too are doing a good job of continuing to fill those spaces.”

She also said the influx of offices in the area should also spell good news for business.

“With all the new offices on that side of town, having another hot food place is going to be really good. It’s a good sign for that whole South Broad Street corridor,” Burdelski said.

When it was announced Panera would be vacating the space, there was some initial speculation that a Five Guys restaurant would be moving in. A representative tweeted in August that “it (looked) like” there had been a deal in place, but it didn’t go through at the time.

A spokeswoman from Panera Bread said its new location at 1094 N. Colony Road should open by Nov. 18.

[JSIDA17]

I don't know about everyone else, but Five Guys has the best burgers and fries I've ever had in my life, not to mention that the Coke Freestyle machines are cool as hell! Orange Sprite anyone?

[busman_49]

Great food, but a little pricey.  Occasionally my wife & I will treat the family or we'll get a late-evening meal for ourselves.

[TheFugitive]

Finally tried one the other night.

Whoa! Twenty-five bucks for two burger-with-fries meals?
I won't be back.

[BillyGr]

Finally tried one the other night.

Whoa! Twenty-five bucks for two burger-with-fries meals?
I won't be back.

Unless they have changed over time, you could cut that a bit by ordering only one small fries and still have more than two average people could eat.  They had a way of putting the fries in the cup in a bag and then more or less filling most of the remaining space in the bag with more fries, such that you wound up with more fries outside the serving cup than were actually inside of it!