The Power of a Well-Crafted Fry: Lesson from Thrasher’s to Five Guys
- Sebastián Corbo
- Aug 2
- 2 min read
In the world of food entrepreneurship, innovation doesn’t always mean invention. Sometimes, it's about continuous improvement — taking something simple and executing it with excellence. This is exactly what Five Guys did. And it all started with... French fries.
A Benchmark Worth Studying
Founded in 1929 in Ocean City, Maryland, Thrasher’s French Fries became legendary for doing one thing exceptionally well: fresh-cut fries, fried in peanut oil, served with malt vinegar. No ketchup. No distractions. Just quality, consistency, and focus.
This obsessive attention to process and customer experience is exactly what Lean Six Sigma promotes:
Reducing variation, improving consistency, and delivering value.
The Five Guys Approach: Benchmarking + Continuous Improvement
The founders of Five Guys didn’t just admire Thrasher’s — they studied their operation. They looked at:
Raw material selection
Frying technique
Portioning
Customer feedback
Then they replicated the process, improved aspects to fit their own standards, and made it part of their system.
This mirrors the Lean Six Sigma cycle of DMAIC:
Define what makes great fries.
Measure consistency and output.
Analyze what Thrasher’s did right.
Improve the process by adapting it.
Control it through standard operating procedures across all Five Guys locations.
Continuous Improvement in Action
Five Guys didn’t reinvent fries. They identified a process that worked, standardized it, and scaled it while preserving quality.
That’s kaizen. That’s Lean. That’s how small businesses scale smartly.
Lessons for Foodpreneurs Applying Lean Thinking:
Specialize and standardize: Focus on doing fewer things better — eliminate waste and distractions.
Benchmark smartly: Study leaders in your category. Deconstruct what they do. Ask why it works.
Document your process: Create SOPs (standard operating procedures) to ensure consistent results.
Measure what matters: Define quality metrics and monitor them (cook time, oil freshness, customer satisfaction).
Improve daily: Every small tweak — from ingredient sourcing to packaging — matters.
6. Empower Yourself Through Lean Thinking
At Empower Foodpreneurs, we believe culinary innovation is built on systems, not chaos. The next big food idea might not come from a new recipe — but from improving an old one with discipline and process.
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