Harry Kersh: From calorie count to portion sizes,
we wanted to find out all the differences
between Five Guys in the UK and the US.
This is "Food Wars."
Burgers from a UK Five Guys come in two sizes.
Joe Avella: Five Guys in the US also has two burger sizes.
Harry: Firstly we have the little,
which is just one patty.
Joe: And the regular, which is two patties.
Harry: Now, our patties are supposed to be lighter
than the US patties and should weigh 67 grams.
We're gonna weigh one and find out if that's accurate.
So, this patty actually weighed 52 grams,
which is 15 grams less than what we're supposed to get.
Joe: According to the US Five Guys website,
they say that one of the patties
should weigh 94 grams, or about 3.3 ounces.
We will weigh a hamburger patty
in the US Five Guys.
That's about 52, 53 grams.
It looks like our patties weigh
just about the same as the ones in the UK.
Harry: We're not sure if they measure it
before or after cooking. Maybe it's before,
and then some of the liquid leaves as it cooks,
but either way, not quite what we're expecting.
Joe: This right here is a hot dog from a US Five Guys.
And before I measure it,
what in the heck is this?
Did you know this?
They cut the hot dog in half?
I hate that they cut this in half.
Cursed image.
OK, how long is this monstrosity?
6 1/4 inches for the hot dog.
Harry: So, a hot dog from a UK Five Guys
is about 6 inches in length.
Now, like the burgers, this has an estimated weight,
and it should weigh 146 grams
if the website's ingredients information is correct.
But ours actually weighs 154 grams,
so we're actually getting more than expected.
Joe: OK, let's weigh this thing
before I throw it in the ocean.
We're about a hair over 150. OK.
I wanna talk to one of the Five Guys.
Get me guy No. 3 or 4, I don't care.
I demand to know what is going on with these hot dogs.
A Five Guys chocolate milkshake in the US,
I believe it's 12 ounces,
let's see what it actually is here.
This one's a little bit more,
ooh, a little bit more melted.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.
Oh, yeah. That's way more than 12, buddy.
That's way more than 12.
It is just over 450 milliliters.
Almost 16 ounces.
Harry: This is a milkshake from a UK Five Guys.
We're gonna measure it to find out how much you get.
Mm, bloop bloop bloop bloop.
Oh, look how thick that is.
Yes!
I want it.
Now, the UK portion size
is advertised as 454 milliliters.
We've got just over 400 here.
If we scraped around the side,
we could probably get a few more in there as well.
Now, Five Guys in the UK is notorious
for overfilling its fry portions.
We also get three sizes,
little, regular, and large.
We ordered all three, and they came in one bag,
and here's what we got.
Little fries,
regular fries,
large fries,
and this is the rest of the bag.
Now, we're not sure which of these fries
belongs to which of these portions,
so we're gonna try and figure it out.
Joe: In the US, we also have three sizes of fries
at the Five Guys.
The small,
the regular,
the large,
and, yes,
so many more fries. Look at that.
So, all in all,
Five Guys is very generous with the fries.
Harry: I mean, I guess I'll start by filling each cup,
and then try and portion this
into, like, vague threes, I guess.
Joe: Yes, that sounds right, I don't know if it is,
but I'm just gonna follow Harry's lead on this one.
Harry: So, this is roughly what we think
would go with each of the portions.
Now, in the UK, a regular fries
is supposed to weigh 414 grams.
We're gonna weigh the cup and then also the extras
to see if what you get really is a bonus
or if it actually all adds up to the supposed total.
165.
Joe: So, first we'll do the scale, right?
So, this is supposed to be 411 grams.
Let's see what we got.
What is this, 170?
Woof, guys. That's not even close.
Harry: So, our regular cup of fries
actually only contained 165 grams,
which is less than half of what you're supposed to get.
We're gonna weigh the rest of the fries
to see if that makes up the difference.
So, even with all the bag fries,
which we assigned to the regular portion,
we're still only looking at 276 grams,
which is well below the portion size
you're supposed to be getting for a regular.
Joe: Excellent idea, Harry, I will do the same.
Now we are up to...
275?
Still not even -- it's supposed 411?
Harry: So, it looks like we've been a bit
shortchanged on the fries.
Because it was all given to us in one big bag,
it's hard to tell which portion came out small.
So what we're gonna do is
add the little fries to this one,
get a total figure for all three portions,
and then figure out how much
we've been shortchanged overall.
So, we've done the maths,
and between our large, regular, and little fries,
including the bag fries, we only got 830 grams.
However, we were supposed to get 1,220 grams,
which means we've been shortchanged
by roughly a third here.
Frygate 2020!
Joe: Technically, Harry, this is Frygate 2021.
Check the release schedule.
With the rest of the bag fries, the large, and the little,
so, they gave us 851 grams of fries
total.
They're supposed to give us 1,225.
Hey, Siri,
851 is what percentage
of 1,225?
Siri: About 69.4693%.
Joe: 69%.
Nice.
Harry: So, at least in our case,
it seems as if the generosity of Five Guys
has been a bit overstated.
Maybe they just overfill smaller containers
so you kind of think you're getting more than you should be,
whereas in reality, if you measure it all,
you're actually maybe getting less.
Joe: Let's compare the prices of both Five Guys
and see who's getting the better deal.
OK, USA, this hamburger costs $9.12.
That is way too much money for this burger.
Harry: A hamburger from a UK Five Guys
will cost you 6 pounds 95,
which is equivalent to $9.20.
Joe: The prices do seem similar,
but it's actually per gram 26% less in the US
than it is in the UK.
Harry: What about the fries?
Well, in the UK, a large fries is 5 pounds 25,
which comes to $6.95.
Joe: In the US, our Five Guys large after tax
is $7.06.
You must be joking.
Harry: If you do the maths for the fries,
it turns out that the US is getting a better deal,
but only fractionally.
You guys get, like, 1% more value for your money
when it comes to the large fries,
so, not too mad about that one.
Producer: A big draw is that when you're in Five Guys,
they have just crates open with peanuts,
and while you're waiting your food,
you can just scoop some peanuts
and just, like, crack the shells open --
Joe: What do you even mean?
So if you go into the store and you wait,
you can eat, like, you can peel and eat peanuts
and, what, throw the shells on the floor,
like it's a saloon in the 1800s?
Who cares? Especially if you're going there to eat,
let me fill up in these cheap peanuts
before I get this ridiculously priced food.
Harry: Compared to some of the places that we reviewed
on this show before,
Five Guys is a more expensive option,
but, I mean, particularly in the UK,
I don't feel too mad about paying a bit more
for a Five Guys than I might do for a meal at McDonald's.
It's just more of a treat,
but it does feel a bit more exotic,
they've branded themselves
as a kind of, like, American import,
Americans-know-their-way- around-a-burger sort of thing.
So if I go, I know that I'm getting something
of a little bit higher quality
than maybe a standard fast-food place,
even if the prices are gonna cost me more.
Joe: I hate Five Guys.
The hot dog is ridiculous,
I don't care about peanuts,
this stuff is way overpriced, forget it.
Let's take a look at the calories
of the Five Guys cheeseburger.
This has two patties,
two slices of cheese, and a bun,
and the total calories is 984.
Harry: What about a UK cheeseburger?
Well, this one comes to 756 calories,
which is more than 200 calories less than the US burger.
The US burger doesn't just have more calories, either;
it's got pretty much more of everything else.
It's got more fat, saturates, and sodium
than a cheeseburger in the UK.
In the UK, if they actually give you
what's advertised on the website,
a large portion of fries is a hefty 1,491 calories.
But despite that,
we still somehow end up with less sodium.
Joe: Our large fry in the US is 1,314 calories.
I also want to point out
our fries come in lower than the UK
in terms of fat content as well as saturates.
And, finally, we have the drinks.
This chocolate shake at a Five Guys in the US
is 830 calories.
Harry: A chocolate shake in the UK comes to slightly more,
at 891 calories.
Joe: So, what if we combine all three into a meal?
So, a plain cheeseburger, regular fries,
and a chocolate shake from Five Guys in the US
totals at 2,767 calories.
Yo, dog!
Also, I think this is about $70. [laughs]
Harry: The same meal in the UK?
Well, that comes to a total of 2,769 calories,
two calories more than in the US.
The differences between the burger and the fries
effectively cancel each other out.
Let's start with the basics.
Here's everything in a hamburger patty
from a UK Five Guys.
Ground beef.
Joe: Here in the US, our burger patty is made up of
ground beef.
[crickets chirping]
Harry: If you prefer to add cheese to your burger,
here's what's in the cheese in the UK.
Cheddar cheese, water, butter, cheese,
milk proteins, whey powder,
emulsifying salt (trisodium citrate),
natural cheese flavoring, salt, lactic acid,
sorbic acid, beta-carotene, paprika extract,
and sunflower lecithin.
Joe: Five Guys cheese here in the US is made up of:
milk, whey, milk fat, milk protein concentrate,
salt, calcium phosphate, sodium citrate,
whey protein concentrate,
sodium phosphate, sorbic acid,
[error ping]
apple-call-a-tent-all? What?
Apo...car-oh-ten-all?
Apocatarnenal.
Annatto, enzymes,
vitamin D3, and cheese cultures.
Harry: The burger buns are also pretty similar.
In the UK, a burger bun is made with:
wheat flour, water, sugar, vegetable fat,
milk, dry yeast, eggs, sesame seeds, salt,
soya flour, calcium carbonate, and spirit vinegar.
Joe: The bun in the US is made up of:
water, salt, sugar, vegetable shortening,
milk, eggs, bleached bread flour,
yeast, and sesame seeds.
Harry: Now, you'd think that the fries
would be pretty similar in the two countries,
and for the most part you'd be right.
In the UK, the fries are made of potatoes,
peanut oil, and salt.
Joe: The fries at the Five Guys in the US
are made from potatoes, refined peanut oil, and salt.
Now, when they say "refined peanut oil,"
apparently the peanut oil in the UK is not refined.
Here in the US it is.
What that means is they do something with distillation
or neutralization, I don't even know,
but the reason they do it
is to give it a better shelf life
and a more uniform taste.
This has been the greasiest "Food Wars" I've ever done.
So they are very generous with the peanut oil
on the fries and pretty much everything else.
Harry: There are a few things to watch out for
on the menu at Five Guys.
For example, the pickles in the US.
In the US, the pickles contain a food coloring
called Yellow 5, or tartrazine.
If this is added to foods in the European Union,
they have to have a warning
saying that they might cause hyperactivity in children.
Joe: Yes, our pickles have a bunch of junk in it,
so does the relish. Specifically, it is made up of:
cucumbers, corn syrup, water, high-fructose corn syrup,
vinegar, salt, xanthan gum, 0.1% of sodium benzoate
as a preservative, calcium chloride, alum,
natural flavors, polysorbate 80,
Yellow No. 5, and maltol.
Harry: In our shortest exclusives section yet,
here is everything you can only find on the menu
at a UK Five Guys.
Joe: And here are all the exclusive
Five Guys menu items in the US.
Harry: Let's start with the burger.
There's only one option in the UK
that you won't be able to find in the US,
and that is HP Sauce.
I won't go into too much detail
in case Joe accuses me of Brit-splaining again,
but for those who don't know, HP sauce is like a --
Joe: The only customization in the US
that you can't get in the UK
is actually something
that everyone in the United States
knows exactly what I'm talking about,
and that is A1 steak sauce.
It looks a lot like the HP brown sauce, but it is not.
It doesn't taste anything like it.
It is the most popular steak sauce.
Ad: A1. It's how steak is done.
Joe: I don't know if it even exists outside of the US.
Harry: The rest of our exclusive options come as drinks,
such as milkshakes.
We have a biscuit shake,
which is flavored with Biscoff biscuits,
which are those little caramel-flavored cookies
which you get on the side of a tea or coffee.
Then we have three dessert shake options,
which are milkshakes flavored with things
which kind of combine to replicate famous desserts.
So, here we have a millionaire's shortbread milkshake.
Here we have a banoffee pie milkshake.
And here we have a strawberry cheesecake milkshake.
Joe: Now, for the last thing,
the only shake you can get in the US
that you can't get in the UK is this,
it is the Oreo, listen to me when I say it,
let me finish before you start typing,
an Oreo Double Stuf milkshake.
Yes, you guys have the Oreo shake there,
and I think you also have an Oreo cream shake there too,
but this is the only Oreo Double Stuf shake.
If you don't have Oreo Double Stuf in the UK,
they're what they sound like,
Oreos with twice as much filling.
This is the last thing we're shooting today,
and I've been waiting for this all day.
Holy s---, this is so good.
[producer laughing] Guys, I'm not playing,
this might've turned the tides
on how I feel about Five Guys.
I'm not kidding, this is so good.
I'm finishing this.
I don't care how sick it makes me, I'm drinking it.
Harry: And last but by no means least,
in the UK, you can wash your burgers down with...
a range of beers.
Cheers.
Joe: Yeah, well, they don't serve beer at our Five Guys,
but I brought my own.
Cheers, my man.
Ah.
It is very warm.
It's a half a hot dog. That's split?
It's like, I'm still like, what?
I'm, like, I'm shook by that.
This is why people on the internet now are like,
"I think a hot dog's a sandwich."
Well, when you serve it like that,
like with the meat cut in half like that,
it's like, yeah, it kinda looks, but it's not!
It's a hot dog.
And you don't cut it down the middle like that.
It's ridiculous.