Burger Wars - Five Guys Enters the Fray

Seeming that we like to cover burgers in between our coverage of Notre Dame football and wine, I thought it would only be appropriate to point to a recent article from the LA Times regarding the expansion of Five Guys Burgers into the Southern California fast food market. Southern California is one of the fiercest markets for fast food chains in the nation (pure speculation on my part - but I'm confident this is the case), and if you're coming in to the market - you better have your A-game on. I've tried Five Guys - and I need to give it a few more shots, but so far I am unimpressed. At the time, I stopped at the Cerritos location, so I look forward to being able to try one of their newly opened outposts closer to LA proper - to give the chain another shot. I won't belabor points here, but my thoughts in summary:

• I agree with most of the analysts quoted, in that Five Guys will not overtake In-N-Out, but there will be some market share lost by INO over time.
• The article speaks to Five Guys falling into a niche above INO, because of pricing and their 'fast casual' format. I believe that model has been road tested before with limited success - see Fat Burger.
• In the end, I don't think Five Guys can differentiate itself enough to warrant consumers to shell out extra money in droves, fast casual or not - so INO is relatively safe. I do like the additional option however.
• Minor nit about Five Guys is the expansive menu (options wise). I was fine with such options and selections, but as I've grown older - I now appreciate a streamlined menu and ordering process. To that, INO will always have me as a fan.