After setting up shop in a Lorton office over the past decade, the hometown burger chain Five Guys will be moving its headquarters to Alexandria, the Washington Business Journal reported.
The company announced that it recently secured a lease in the Carlyle Crescent building on the edge of Old Town, where it will occupy a 40,000-square-foot space on the fifth floor of the building, which is located near Whole Foods at the intersection of Duke and Delaney streets.
The move, which is expected to get underway sometime next year, comes 36 years after the burger chain launched its first location in Arlington. Five Guys opened its doors in 1986 with a restaurant at the corner of S. Glebe Road and Columbia Pike, a space founder Jerry Murrell leased for $35,000.
Named for his family — Murrell and his four sons (he now has a fifth) — the restaurant eventually expanded with two more locations in Alexandria before being franchised in the early 2000s and becoming an international sensation.
Today, the chain, which has remained renowned for its savory burgers — free of trans fats — fries cooked in peanut oil, and peanut shells blanketing the restaurant waiting areas, operates more than 1,600 locations around the globe and has plans to open about 1,500 more.
The restaurant reportedly grossed $1.7 billion in revenue in 2021.
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