E168: Building A Business Empire WITHOUT ANY Marketing: Five Guys CEO: John Eckbert

The Diary Of A CEO with Steven Bartlett

FlightStory

Society & Culture, Business, Education

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 11 August 2022

⏱️ 102 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

John Eckbert is the CEO of Five Guys in Europe. By far the most successful ‘posh burger’ chain in Britain, John tells us how he took a classic concept to a whole new content by inventing a unique business model.

Five Guys in Europe is not just a franchise, but John rather started from zero on a joint venture which has so managed to eclipse the dozens of other similar businesses that launched at the same time, and then some.

As well as dishing out profound business and management advice, John walks us through how a sea-change in his personal life left him feeling trapped and alone. But John fought fires at both home and work in order to make Five Guys what it is today. We’re so glad he did.

Topics:

What shaped your business mentality?
Five Guy’s journey
Building a successful business without marketing
How to stop employees becoming compliant
Installing company values
Hiring the best people
Attention to detail
How do you keep calm?
Hardest moments & how to handle them
Critical feedback, standards & customer service
Business decisions and their impact
What’s the biggest threat to Five Guys?
What makes you happy?
Self-awareness
What’s are the foundations of your future?
Our last guest’s question

Five Guys:

https://fiveguys.co.uk/

Watch the episodes on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheDiaryOfACEO/videos

Sponsors:

Huel - https://my.huel.com/Steven

BlueJeans - https://www.bluejeans.com/

Transcript

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0:00.0	You know, when Barack Obama left the White House, they go pick up five guys.
0:03.5	We ain't gonna get some bird, we're party one.
0:06.0	That's what makes five guys a treat and special.
0:09.0	John Eckburn, the CEO of Five Guys Europe.
0:12.5	Five Guys has a global cult following.
0:15.5	Five Guys burglar fries, it was a million.
0:18.0	The Cumber Garden was the very first five guys outside of the U.S.
0:21.5	We knew that we weren't going to be advertising.
0:23.5	We're entirely relying on someone tasting a great burger and frying it and telling their neighbors or their friends.
0:29.0	It has to be, that's fucking fantastic.
0:32.0	That Cumber Garden location sold more than any in the world.
0:35.0	It did, yeah, by far.
0:36.0	I'm responsible for 225 restaurants now.
0:39.0	How'd you stop getting a little bit sloppy and complacent?
0:42.0	We've actually gotten better.
0:43.0	The key to that is...
0:47.0	As the CEO of a business that's gone through such chaos, what was your hardest time?
0:52.0	So I had two young children.
0:55.0	The fact is that there were moments where they woke up and needed both their parents and I wasn't there.
1:02.0	You'll hurt the people you care about in ways that you don't intend, in ways that you don't understand.
1:10.0	So without further ado, I'm Stephen Bartlett and this is the DarioVaseo.
1:15.0	I hope nobody's listening.
	...

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