After months of little activity following the construction of its outer building, the sign for Five Guys burgers went up Friday morning at its Highway 80 East location.

No official opening date was announced. On the Five Guys Enterprises website, a posting for “Shift Lead” is the only job posted. 

Land clearing began for the former Bel-Air Estate parcel across from Lowe’s in July 2023 for Jim ’N Nick’s Bar-B-Q restaurant, a Texas Roadhouse restaurant, Mattress Warehouse and Five Guys. And a permit was issued Sept. 5, 2023 for the build-out of the structure that would house Five Guys and Mattress Warehouse.

But after the outer building was finished in January, the interiors of both businesses sat vacant for months. Even after a sign for Mattress Warehouse went up in May, nothing was happening inside either location.

Meanwhile, Jim ‘N Nicks started serving in January and Texas Roadhouse announced in June an Aug. 26 opening date, which drew huge crowds and a massive traveling potato this past Monday.

Finally, in the first week of August, merchandise began being moved into the Mattress Warehouse store and it opened for business on Aug. 16.

At the same time, interior work was ongoing at Five Guys, but no official announcement from the chain was forthcoming – until the well-known sign was posted Friday morning.

Mattress Warehouse uses most of the 7,200 square feet that make up the building at 23992 Highway 80 East, with Five Guys taking up about one-third of that space.

Five Guys is one of the most popular chain hamburger restaurants not only in the United States, but the world. As of 2023, it had more than 2,000 locations with another 1,000 in development. Five Guys was founded in Washington, D.C. in 1986 and began franchising in 2003.

The closest Five Guys to Statesboro are two restaurants in Pooler and one each in Hinesville and Savannah.