When the first one opened near me, I went upstairs with my wife, and we had to shout at each other, and she hated the volume so much, we had to wolf the food down and go. It was painfully loud and I suspect if you worked there, you'd go home after your shift with your ears ringing. It was like being in a nightclub.
I actually spotted the manager, and went and had a chat to him about what we thought of the new place, and the level of noise came up, and we explained that not only was it driving us out, it was totally inappropriate for the sort of customers he'd be expecting to get on a weekday lunchtime in a shopping area. He explained that it was company policy, and that it was to "energise the staff". He agreed that it would be a good idea to lower the volume during the weekday lunchtime, and go back to the normal high volumes for the night time crowd,
Anyway, he comped us both a free meal, and when we went back a couple of months later to redeem it, it was a bit quieter upstairs, so we could actually talk to each other without shouting or feeling the music was painfully loud, but it wasn't what I'd call quiet.
Since then, we've not been back, and every time we've passed it (it's in our local big shopping area), it looks dead empty. It's not been made better by the fact that as well as the usual McDonalds and Burger King competitors that are much cheaper, there are a couple of gourmet burger places close by that do better burgers, for a cheaper price (when you include the sides), and in a much nicer eating environment. Even the local Miller & Carter where you have a full dining experience does a better burger for a cheaper price.
I don't know how Five Guys are going to keep going when they just don't seem to be doing much business because of the higher prices, less good product, and actively hostile dining environment when so many other people are doing the same thing better and cheaper.
