Business

Five Guys backs out of Route 58 plaza plans

GRANT PARPAN PHOTO | A customer eats a burger at the Five Guys location in Huntington. For now, the closest Five Guys to Riverhead is in Port Jefferson Station.

Sorry, burger lovers: Five Guys Burgers and Fries has reportedly backed out of plans to open a franchise on Route 58 in Riverhead.

Riverhead Town planning and building administrator Jeff Muphree said Oct. 16 that the popular fast-food joint “changed their mind” about opening a store in Riverhead just one day after the planning board approved an amended site plan for them in August.

“They didn’t give a reason,” Mr. Murphree said of the change.

The Five Guys was originally set to be located near the front of the Saber Riverhead shopping center, which is currently being constructed on Route 58, just east of Riverhead Raceway. It was to join Starbucks, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Buffalo Wild Wings, Christmas Tree Shops and Five Below, a representative of the developer said in August.

Mr. Murphree said The Vitamin Shoppe is expected to fill the space Five Guys was originally set to occupy.

Multiple attempts to reach Rich Decola, a representative for Saber Riverhead, were unsuccessful, and a Five Guys company spokesperson did not return repeated phone calls. Charles Cuddy, the Riverhead attorney representing Five Guys, could also not be reached.

Currently, the nearest Five Guys location is in Port Jefferson Station. The chain has doubled its number of stores to more than 1,000 open in the U.S. and Canada, according to a 2012 article published on Forbes.com. And it has more than 1,500 additional locations in the pipeline, making it the fastest growing burger chain in the U.S., according to the Forbes article.

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Five Guys Burgers and Fries