In the world of fast food, efficiency is the name of the game. That's true for the restaurants themselves as well as the supply chain. McDonald's, for instance, keeps a tight supply chain with a limited network of suppliers providing all the beef for its burgers. Rival Five Guys is similarly picky about ingredients like its potatoes (which come from Idaho north of the 42nd parallel), and in terms of beef, it primarily works with just one supplier. That would be Schweid & Sons, a New Jersey-based beef purveyor.

Schweid & Sons began working with Five Guys in 2002, when the chain had just five locations. At the time, Schweid & Sons operated under the name Burger Maker and grew alongside Five Guys' massive expansion (the chain now has over 1,500 locations) by providing fresh ground beef patties to most stores. Five Guys in the Midwest and Europe, however, source their beef elsewhere. Schweid doesn't raise cattle itself but instead procures meat from producers like Swift and Tyson, then processes it into ready-to-cook patties that it distributes to restaurant kitchens.

According to CEO Jamie Schweid, who spoke with Forbes in 2017, Five Guys prioritized consistency and quality as it expanded, and Schweid was able to offer that. "They wanted to make sure they had the best suppliers. My dad and [Five Guys founder] Jerry Murrell really hit it off," he told the outlet. He also revealed that Schweid uses a unique, proprietary burger blend especially for Five Guys.

Schweid & Sons predates Five Guys by many years

Five Guys employee prepping burgers in restaurant kitchen.

Ji Xiang Photography/Shutterstock

Though Five Guys first contracted with Schweid & Sons in 2002, the meatpacker has a much longer history. In fact, the first Schweid family foray into the beef business was in the late 1800s, when Harry Schweid opened a Lower East Side butcher shop in New York City. When his grandson David took over the family shop in the 1970s, he expanded and moved the packer out to New Jersey. While the company's headquarters remain in East Rutherford, New Jersey, Schweid has also added a new, larger, and more automated factory in Atlanta, Georgia.

Given Five Guys' geographic reach, these two facilities can't supply all the restaurants alone. Meat & Poultry reported in 2014 that Schweid had an affiliate on the West Coast supplying those stores, while an unrelated company that hasn't been publicly named supplies certain Midwest locations.

If you're hoping to recreate a Five Guys-style burger at home, you can actually buy Schweid & Sons ground beef and premade burger patties in some supermarkets. Schweid also supplies other restaurants, like the Cheesecake Factory and Hard Rock Cafe, along with certain theme parks such as Dollywood, Six Flags, and Great Wolf Lodge. But since Schweid produces a proprietary blend for Five Guys, none of these will be exactly the same burger.