Five Guys CEO gives $1.5M to employees after botched BOGO deal

The Five Guys CEO is distributing $1.5 million worth of bonuses to employees following a botched BOGO deal.

Five Guys announced on March 9 that it was distributing the bonuses to store employees after some locations ran out of food for the chain's 40th anniversary buy-one-get-one burger deal on Feb. 17. The deal drew an overwhelming response, which the chain "underestimated," as outlined in a Feb. 18 statement.

"I didn’t want anybody shooting me in the back or anything after the first day, because we really screwed it up," Five Guys CEO Jerry Murrell jokingly told Fortune magazine in an interview. "We had no idea that we were going to get that kind of response."

From March 9-12, Five Guys brought back the buy-one-get-one-free burger deal in hopes of making it up to loyal customers over the course of several days, rather than just one.

When will Five Guys distribute the employee bonuses? How much will each employee receive?

Five Guys did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's March 26 request for additional information about the bonuses. Murrell told Fortune he wrote checks to 1,500 Five Guys employees, which would amount to $1,000 per employee.

Five Guys faces more criticism with new fry bags

The new-and-improved BOGO deal was held days before Five Guys changed up how it serves its fries, in paper bags. Traditionally, the burger chain served its fries in plastic cups, but as of March 16, fries are now served in BPA- and PFAS-free kraft paper bags.

The new fry bags were met with criticism from Five Guys loyalists, who claim the bags don't hold as many fries and end up leaving a greasy mess, despite the chain saying the paper bags are grease-resistant.

Greta Cross is a national trending reporter at USA TODAY. Story idea? Email her at [email protected].