shift manager

team member

shift leader

crew member

assistant general manager

Five Guys

I honestly had the worst time at Five Guys. I was hired for part-time but ended up working about 40 hours some weeks because of all the people that quit and/or called in sick consistently. A typical day depended on your shift and what you were working. Prep was obviously for the morning shifts (everything is hand made including the patties). When I first started working there the management was alright and everyone was friendly, although they talk bad about everyone (but that's how work is). We went without a GM for a while and everyone was quitting so I was almost working full-time hours every week. The new management came in and it got worse. The manager hired her friends and gave them most of the hours, which took away from everyone else. I went from 30 - 40 hours to about 12. Her friends would not work, but they did not get into trouble at all because they "Were friends with the manager". We were overworked sometimes having to do a Friday rush with 3 people (one time even two on the weekend) because people called in a lot. During the closing, we were expected to pick up on others slack when they cleaned. We closed at 10, but sometimes we did not leave until 1:30 am. The newer managers always banded together to talk about one manager, who they wanted to quit for no apparent reason. After all of the hard work employees put in, they never get rewarded. There were times when I closed until 1 am, then had to be at work for 7 am the next day. After getting home and getting up early, it's only about 5 hours of sleep. I worked a double shift a few times there. There was a time I worked 7 to 3, then I had to work until close (or they make you feel bad) because someone called in sick. I worked a 12-hour shift with one break too. If you were on break and it got busy, expect to come back early.

Typical day would consist of 5 stations 

Station 1: Maning the cash register, welcoming newcomers and explaining how the operation works. You would take orders and money (cash, credit, debit) and return proper change, if necessary.

Station 2: Follow the chit as to what goes on each (toasted) bun, including proper order and placement, attention to detail here is important. 

Station 3: Ensuring that the proper number of burgers/dogs are being prepared and prepared properly according to regulations and customer preference.

Station 4: Checking the work of the Station 2 person, calling the amount/type of burger that is next in line, wrapping said burgers/hot dogs when all is ready, calling the type of bag and fries to Station 5.

Station 5: Making sure that the fries are prepared according to Five Guys standards. Ensuring that the proper amount of fries are ready for each order, at the proper time. Putting the finished product in the appropriate bag and delivering to the customers.

You could be asked to work any of these sections at any given time.

I learned to be very flexible and listen to the bosses. Also to work in a fast-paced environment, where details are of utmost importance.

Management is very dependable, kind and are always willing to listen and use ideas given by staff to increase productivity and support.

Co-workers are fun and mostly on track to pursue a higher education. In the fast food industry, it is extremely rare, but here some workers have stayed for over 3 years.

Hardest part of the job is the constant foray of people and when it is time to move, you need to be prepared and ready because it is fast.

Most enjoyable parts are the management and the co-workers. They are always kind and fun to work with.

On an average day you get to the restaurant around 7 am and you begin the preparation of all the food you will be cooking for the day after you complete that around 10 am you have to check the premises and setup/ tidy up the restaurant for the day ahead.11 am you open the doors and everyone is positioned at their station, from then on you begin to serve customers as they come in and you deal with issues as they arise.When 12 pm comes around the split "shift-ers" come in and start helping out and then at 4 pm the night "shift-ers" come in to change with the morning crew. this is a rough outline of what happens pretty much everyday. Now what i didn't mention is that along with tat monotonous routine you also have to deal with managerial bureaucracy and other absurd politics that only create friction among the crew and serve as intrigue generators. On top of that don't expect to receive your salary on time or in the right amounts even though you can earn bonuses you may not see them for months.Furthermore the managers tend to pick favorites and tend to punish the unfavorable and between each other they pit the crew against each other as if the crew is there for the managers amusement. all in all the money is great if your working any other job but is completely overwhelmed by the extra stuff you have to deal with which only serve to take up your time energy and soul. THIS job will literally make you eat, sleep, think Five Guys. You will gain wait from their food, be stressed out by the politics and tired by the job.

this is where I truly learned the meaning of multitasking.
depending on how many staff members I had on my line a typical day consisted of prep work in the morning before the store had opened ex: making hamburger patties for the day, preparing fresh tomatoes and other toppings such as pickles, onions, green pepper, jalapeño peppers, cheese, lettuce, condiments.
the next stretch of my day consisted of making sure the store was kept clean (garbage, pop station, restrooms, tables and chairs) the staff was all cross trained so we were all able to work most of the stations (cash, buns/toppings, grill, fries, quality control and expediting) I was mainly on buns/toppings as i could top 3 buns in one hand, i was put on cash only if the cashiers were backed up and i had no orders coming out of the machine, so i would take up to 10 orders then go complete them at the bun station by that time i had plenty of orders to keep me entertained for a while, I was able to run the line by myself which i only ever had to do twice in the 2 years i was there it was hard to do but i managed to do it with a smile and in efficient time, it was challenging and fun all at once. management was fair but could use some more training on following standard.
my co-workers were pretty great to work with we were a great team.
the hardest part of the job was learning the true meaning of multitasking and team work. if something needs to be done rather then ask one of my co-workers to do the job i just did it myself something i worked really hard on not doing so much.
the most enjoyable part of the job was meeting new people, getting joy out of the customers watching me put their orders together so quickly while ensuring it was the correct order.

Can't understate how self absorbed and soulless this company is. 

Was there since day 1 of this location opening.

Pay was good. Tips were good. Management seemed good until it wasn't. These were the opening weeks mind you and like any branch of a business of course it's gonna have growing pains starting out.

Problems began occuring a year into this place opening. Work is heaped on certain individuals who tended to go above and beyond. Rules and regulations changed on a whim depending on how management felt that day.

Many employees, former or otherwise did not recieve fair compensation for their work, nor did many of them get full-time hours though the vast majority of us were hired full-time.

Hours are 'supposed' to be based on sales but the company doesn't seem to realize you need to spend money to make money and they would pay you as little as they can get away with if they could. Also this place has no benefits for regular employees, it only applies to Supervisors, Managers, Assistant General Managers, GMs and above.

Some positives? Hard working staff, probably some of the best people I've ever worked with. Free meals daily and a decently ventilated kitchen. 


Five Guys has a lot more potential to be one of the best places to work in the food industry but is held back by complete obsession with it's own brand and the need tobincrease profits no matter the cost to it's employees.

During my interview in May, the GM promised me that the hours would pick up to at least 30 a week when the summer picked up. I would not be posting my resume on Indeed right now had the GM been able to fulfil her promise of 30 hours a week. 

Other than that one concern, everything else about the job has been and will continue to be an excellent experience. A typical day at work is working in an extremely fast paced environment cooking up delicious burgers and fries for massive line ups of hungry customers. 

The Management is excellent. My co-workers are largely nice people, and easy to work with. The Hardest part of the job was keeping up with the fast pace of a busy restaurant for myself (however as time went on, that became my favourite part of working in the restaurant! Time flies when you are having fun and working hard!). 

The most enjoyable part of the job is probably seeing the satisfied faces of the customers when they get that extra scoop of fries in their meal. When the only complaint you receive at a restaurant is, "you are putting to many fries in!" you know that restaurant is doing something right.

Overall, if you are looking for a fulfilling part time job (I stress, part time. As you wont be getting anywhere near full-time hours at this employer at the Newmarket location) you should look no further than Five Guys Burgers and Fries.

I worked as a red shirt, grey shirt, and AGM in training. Working as a red shirt was often fun and enjoyable, but when first starting out and being trained, it was a hassle because every grey shirt did things differently, and they didn't train Five Guys standards first. The online training videos are fun, and very interactive, and they will probably teach you the most about the job, then hands on training in store, because of the discrepancies between managers. As a grey shirt, it was not worth it. The pay for the amount of stress and hassle you went through managing the store was not worth it and I don't recommend trying to move your way up through the ranks in the company. As training for AGM, it was a hassle too, because I was given personal plans to work towards, but that would be it, there was no other talks given to me. I was not explained how to go about achieving my personal plan, nor was I easily able to talk to the GM when I had questions. I was often disciplined for things I didn't understand, and when I asked for clarifications of what I did wrong, I wasn't given one. It had gotten to the point for me, that I became extremely depressed working there, which was shocking to me, because I loved the standards Five Guys had for their food and customers, and I enjoyed working with my co-workers, but I was having panic attacks before shifts, and calling in frequently when I had maybe called in once before.

If you want a job where you are disrespected every day, this is the place for you. You go above and beyond, which is never enough for management. Management has messed up schedules because they have not respected their employee's availability, and instead of fixing the problem on their end, they still require the employee to come in. Many people have come to work sick because if someone can't cover for you, you will still be required to go to your shift. Funnily enough, for a company that can't keep an employee past the probationary period, it is shocking how often they threaten to fire you. I have never worked in a place where people are so blissfully ignorant and genuinely believe that everything wrong in their stores is due strictly to their employees and not because management often doesn't provide the proper tools for their employees to work with. Oh, and I forgot to mention black shirts (general managers) are always coming from other stores and completely changing things from how you and your store do something every day; they won't listen to anything you have to say. Honestly, this place is just a horrible place to be, and I would never recommend this job to someone in a million years.

Five Guys Burgers and Fries is an unfogettable job experience. As my first real job it was challenging at first but it certainly did not take long to get used to. A typical day at work consists of a varirty of different tasks; mostly repetative and some not. Cooking, cleaning, taking orders, managing staff, paper work (daily deposits, shift reports) and maintaining an overall enjoyable experience for both guests and staff is the list of daily routines for a day at work. Management can confront you with obstacles such as a product shortage and staff issues (Shift coverage, health and safety). Above all, my managent position has taught me how to manage any problems effectively and efficiently by making smart judgemnet calls as well as taking initiative from to time to time if/when needed. My co-workers all cooporate well. Should it be otherwise, the problem with the co-worker is dealt with right away by means of respectively speaking to them to address and fix the issue. The most difficult part of the job has to be the holiday season. When the holidays arrive, many problems arise and sometimes they can be difficult to solve. The most enjoyable part of my job is seeing the guests and staff happy to be where they are and knowing that I contributed to their happiness.

Even though the general vibe of working in these stores are good, you will be asked to cover shifts on your days off all the time, whether you are a red shirt or a shift leader. As a red shirt this is a great first job, but as a shift leader (they don't call you a manager there) you will be asked to do endless amounts of extra work including training, working all stations, paperwork, intense deep cleaning, being responsible for people on your shifts, cutting labor/food cost, and passing secret shops; all for only a dollar more than minimum wage. If they would give proper promotions to their loyal staff members then this would be a great place to work as you have self entitlement and face value with the customers. Mornings are super slow to the point the boss doesn't care and seems focused on other stuff and will sit in the back on the computer all day while nights are 3-4 times busier a lot of the time even though they have more shift leaders in the morning and only one at night.  Morning prep starts at 8am and ends before 10am and the store doesn't open until 11am so if you like waking up early and sitting down off the clock for more than an hour a day then go for it. The store is constantly under staffed and unappreciated, you wont go far working here. This is a last second employment option to anyone.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Shift manager 22 salaries reported	$17.42 per hour
Team member 29 salaries reported	$15.99 per hour
Shift leader 25 salaries reported	$17.21 per hour
Crew member 35 salaries reported	$17.00 per hour
Assistant general manager 8 salaries reported	$19.24 per hour

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