Claim: Five Guys has made their UK menu halal in response to complaints from Muslim customers.
Fact: Only a select few branches of Five Guys in the United Kingdom serve halal-certified meat and do not serve pork and alcohol. The rest of their branches in the UK do not follow halal guidelines.
On 24 Feb 2025, a user on X(formerly Twitter) posted a video (archive) of a Muslim man enjoying a cheeseburger at a Five Guys location in Leeds. The post is captioned,
“5 Guys UK has ditched traditional meat in favour of Halal meat due to complaints from Muslim customers.
What do you think?”
Five Guys
Five Guys is an American fast-food chain that began in Arlington, Virginia, in 1986. After opening in several locations across the United States, in 2013 Five Guys opened a branch in London and formally expanded the business to the United Kingdom.
The viral claim that Five Guys is now serving halal rather than ‘traditional’ meat likely gained traction in recent weeks due to the opening of a new halal-certified Five Guys in Birmingham. As reported by Birmingham Live on 17 February 2025, the Fort Dunlop branch in Birmingham changed to ensure the store now complied with halal certifications. This change included removing pork and alcohol products from the menu.
This change drew ire from many social media users who posted about their discontent on X and the hashtag #FiveGuysNoBaconNoCash gained traction. According to the Twitter (now X) analytics tool TweetBinder, the hashtag was potentially used in more than 200,000 tweets.
This change likely led to a surge in scrutiny regarding other Five Guys stores that are halal certified, as days after BirminghamLive published their article, right-wing media pages and tabloids began reporting on the story, such as The Mirror, GBNews, and The Canary.
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check conducted a keyword search but found no credible sources reporting on this story. The only articles found were written by right-wing news outlets based in the UK, such as GBNews, which reported on the development with the headline: “Five Guys BANS pork and alcohol in new ‘halal’ restaurant as fears raised over ‘Islamic enclaves’ in Britain”
Upon checking the Five Guys UK website, we found a specific page dedicated to “Halal Information”. The details stated here confirmed that only five of their restaurants in the UK serve halal-certified food, and that these branches also do not serve pork or alcohol products. It said, “The following Five Guys stores are fully Halal certified where we serve Halal certified British beef. No bacon, hot dogs, or alcohol are available in these stores:
Birmingham Fort
Leeds Trinity
Leicester Cheapside
London Park Royal
Manchester Arndale.”
The page also stated that while these stores serve halal-certified food, “the rest of our stores in England, Scotland, and Wales are not halal certified and do not serve halal beef.”
Since their 2013 opening, Five Guys has expanded across the United Kingdom, opening up over 170 branches.
Five Guys’ decision to open halal stores in these specific locations is likely a market-driven decision as these cities contain large Muslim populations, which represent an untapped consumer base for the brand. Notably:
Birmingham: According to the 2021 census, 29.9% of Birmingham’s residents identify as Muslim, making it the second largest faith group in the city after Christianity.
Leeds: In Leeds, 7.8% of the population identifies themselves as Muslim, making it the second largest practicing faith after Christianity.
Leicester: According to a local authority profile from 2023 by the Leicester City Council, 23% of the city’s residents identify as Muslim, making it the second largest faith group, with Christianity eking out to the top at just 25%.
London: London was noted as the most religiously diverse city in the UK in the 2021 census, with 15% of the population identifying as Muslim. The London Park Royal location is also located in the Borough of Brent, where the population of Muslims remains consistent at 15%.
Manchester Arndale: Finally, in Manchester, Islam is once again the second largest practicing faith group with 22.3% of the population describing themselves as Muslim.
With Muslims representing almost a quarter of some of these cities’ populations and millions of potential consumers, it is likely that Five Guys simply made a handful of stores halal to access a new client base. The chain’s rapid expansion across the UK since 2013 likely belies a desire to tap into as much of the population and market as possible, and the decision to create halal stores fits this strategy.
In the case of the viral clip, the Muslim man was likely enjoying his meal at the Leeds Trinity branch, which the Five Guys UK website confirms to be halal. However, Leeds alone contains three other branches that do not follow these guidelines. Namely, Leeds White Rose, Leeds Cardigan Fields, and Leeds Duncan St.
Thus, while Five Guys operates halal-certified branches in the United Kingdom, the vast majority of their stores continue to serve “traditional meat” and products that are not halal certified. Therefore, Soch Fact Check ranks the claim as misleading.
Soch Fact Check contacted Five Guys for comment on this story but received no response.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found the claim on X here, here, and here.
Conclusion: While Five Guys UK operates a few halal-certified branches, most of their stores in the United Kingdom do not follow halal guidelines.
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