Five Guys CEO gives staff $1.5m bonus so no one “shoots” him in the back

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Okay, so Five Guys had this crazy BOGO burger deal for their 40th anniversary, and it completely blew up – in a good way, I guess! Apparently, it got so busy, the CEO, Jerry Murrell, ended up giving out $1.5 million in bonuses to all the staff. He joked he did it because he didn’t want anyone taking out their frustration on him! Seriously, can you imagine the rush? It’s cool to see a company take care of its employees like that, especially after a wild promotion.

The burger chain’s buy-one-get-one offer on February 17th was incredibly popular, causing their app to crash and some restaurants to temporarily run out of ingredients. As a result, a few locations had to end the promotion sooner than planned.

The public reacted strongly on social media, leading Five Guys to apologize and then restart the promotion with a fresh four-day attempt in March.

The #AfterParty is just getting started. 🥳

— Five Guys (@FiveGuys) March 9, 2026

Five Guys CEO explains $1,000 bonus to staff

I was reading about how things went crazy at Five Guys, and apparently, the founder, Jerry Murrell, sent a $1,000 bonus to every single US store – that’s $1.5 million total! He told Fortune he did it as a joke, saying he just didn’t want anyone getting mad enough to, well, you know… do something drastic after a big mistake. It’s a pretty funny way to handle a screw-up, honestly!

The comment alluded to the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, who was shot and killed.

Murrell explained the reaction to the promotion was much greater than they predicted. They had only expected a slight increase in sales, but instead, demand soared by about 130%. He noted that employees were incredibly busy during the promotion, making the bonus feel well-deserved.

Five Guys had previously admitted the launch didn’t go as planned, explaining they hadn’t anticipated such high demand and offering their apologies to customers.

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2026-04-01 14:48