Mistakes were made. Burgers were flipped. And the Five Guys CEO had to pay up $1.5 million after a buy-one-get-one-free deal went a little too well.
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After a chaotic buy-one-get-one-free (BOGO) deal to celebrate the burger chain’s 40th anniversary, CEO Jerry Murrell distributed $1.5 million in bonuses to employees. He sent 1,500 checks, worth $1,000 each, to the stores impacted by the overwhelming promotion.
“I didn’t want anybody shooting me in the back or anything after the first day, because we really screwed it up. We had no idea that we were going to get that kind of response,” the 82-year-old admitted to Fortune.
A somewhat tone deaf Murrell joked that the bonus money came from funds he had set aside to buy his wife a fur coat.
“She still looks at me like I’m stupid,” the CEO added. “But I thought it was worth it. They worked so hard. They were so overwhelmed.”
After a wildly popular—and wildly chaotic—BOGO promotion celebrating its 40th anniversary, Five Guys has announced a do-over. The initial Feb. 17 BOGO event saw unprecedented demand, leaving stores without food, customers in long lines, and workers completely overwhelmed.
“You visited our restaurants in overwhelming numbers, and we weren’t ready for you,” the burger chain confesses in the press release. “We didn’t meet our own standards, and that’s not something we take lightly.”
Five Guys CEO on BOGO Deal’s Wild Success: ‘I Always Think It’s Funny When People Go to Sales’
Meanwhile, Five Guys CEO Jerry Murrell told Fortune he was flabbergasted by the turnout for the BOGO deal. Somewhat strangely, he was shocked that consumers enjoyed getting a free meal.
“I always think it’s funny when people go to sales. I never thought they worked. We tried this one, buy one, get one free. Holy smokes. I couldn’t believe all the people that jumped on that,” the possibly out-of-touch CEO said. “I thought maybe increased sales like 20% or something—that was like 130%. So I felt I screwed up.”
To make up for putting their workers in “an incredibly difficult position,” the company announced it would distribute approximately $1.5 million amongst them for “the way they performed under pressure.”
Hoping for a redo, the company announced a second BOGO offer called the “40th After Party” from March 9 to 12, promising they’d actually be prepared this time.
The second promotion was a success, according to Fortune.
“The crew did good that day, because they were prepared, but they worked so hard that I thought, now I better give them a bonus,” Muller admitted.