Battle · 4 companies
Burger chains
Top of the stack, or flipped?
GBK leads on pre-tax profit, profit margin, growth and net assets; Five Guys on turnover. Five Guys is the biggest by turnover at £576m, against £138m at GBK. All of them lost money; GBK lost the least, £0.52 of every £100 it took.
The year ends are up to 11 months apart, so this compares each company's most recent filing rather than the same twelve months. Five Guys and Honest Burgers file group accounts that include subsidiaries; Byron and GBK file for a single company, which flatters the groups on size.
Accounts compared: Five Guys to Dec 2025 · Byron to Dec 2025 · Honest Burgers to Jan 2025 · GBK to Dec 2025
The Numbers
| # | Company | Turnover | Change | Pre-tax profit | Margin | Employees | Pay per head | Turnover per head | Net assets | Bank and cash | Accounts to | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Five GuysFive Guys European Holdings Limited | £576m | +2.8% | -£43m | -7.5% | 8,107 | £23,000 | £71,000 | -£351m | £20m | Dec 2025 | Group |
| 2 | GBKGourmet Burger Kitchen (UK) Limited | £138m | +10.2% | -£0.7m | -0.5% | 2,832 | £21,000 | £49,000 | £0.8m | n/d | Dec 2025 | Single company |
| 3 | Honest BurgersHonest Group Ltd | £60m | +6.2% | -£3m | -5.4% | 836 | £27,000 | £72,000 | -£33m | £4m | Jan 2025 | Group |
| 4 | ByronTristar Foods Limited | £11m | -26.2% | -£1.5m | -14.5% | 182 | £22,000 | £58,000 | -£4m | £0.3m | Dec 2025 | Single company |
Ranked by turnover. Click any column to sort. The leader on each measure is highlighted. Movements are against each company's own prior year. Pre-tax profit is filed except where marked (est.).
Category winners
The Takeaway
- GBK loses the least. Of every £100 it takes, it loses £0.52, against a loss of £14.46 at Byron.
- Five Guys is the largest on the top line, £576m of turnover, 4.2x GBK's £138m.
- GBK is growing fastest, turnover +10.2% on its own prior year. Byron went backwards.
- Five Guys is the biggest employer with 8,107 people; Honest Burgers pays the most per head, an average staff cost of about £27,000.
- GBK has the largest balance sheet, net assets of £0.8m, while Five Guys holds the most cash at £20m.
Who keeps the most of every £100 of sales?
Every company here made a loss. GBK lost the least, £0.52 of every £100 of turnover. Byron does worst, losing £14.46.
Financing bites hardest at Five Guys: £11.88 of every £100 goes on interest.
Every profit figure here is the one the company filed.
The chart splits each company's turnover into £100: what goes on people, on interest and on everything else, and what is left as profit.
Out of every £100 of turnover
Each column is £100 of that company's own turnover, so companies of any size compare on one scale; the figures are pounds out of each £100, not millions. Companies run from the best margin to the worst. Payroll is staff costs, financing is interest paid, other running costs are everything else, and profit is pre-tax profit, filed or estimated as marked in the table. A loss is not an extra cost: it is the part of the costs that runs past the £100 line, marked with a red bracket. Hover over any segment for its figure.
Who is the biggest, and does the comparison hold?
By turnover the order is Five Guys (£576m), GBK (£138m), Honest Burgers (£60m), Byron (£11m).
By headcount, Five Guys leads with 8,107 employees.
The comparison holds with the dates stated plainly: Five Guys to Dec 2025, Byron to Dec 2025, Honest Burgers to Jan 2025, GBK to Dec 2025. The bases differ: group accounts include the businesses a company owns, single-company accounts do not.
Turnover on the latest filing
Who is growing fastest?
GBK grew fastest, turnover +10.2% on its own prior year, ahead of Honest Burgers (+6.2%), Five Guys (+2.8%), Byron (-26.2%).
Turnover change on each company's own prior year
Who employs the most, who pays the most, and who brings in the most per head?
Five Guys employs the most, 8,107 people, against 2,832 at GBK.
Honest Burgers has the highest average staff cost, about £27,000 a head; GBK the lowest, about £21,000.
Honest Burgers brings in the most turnover per employee, about £72,000, against £49,000 at GBK. It says as much about the business model as the workforce: a marketplace or a wholesaler needs far fewer people per pound than a restaurant or a gym.
Five Guys
8,107
employees, about £23,000 pay a head, £71,000 turnover a head, -3.2% on the year
Byron
182
employees, about £22,000 pay a head, £58,000 turnover a head, -7.6% on the year
Honest Burgers
836
employees, about £27,000 pay a head, £72,000 turnover a head, +1.8% on the year
GBK
2,832
employees, about £21,000 pay a head, £49,000 turnover a head, +26.7% on the year
Who owns each one?
Ownership as recorded on the Companies House register of people with significant control, in the bands the register uses.
Held by 5gfr Llp
A company recorded as a person with significant control in the 25% to 50% band. 5 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Five Guys →
Tristar Foods Limited · 14536752Held by Tristar Foods Holdco Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 2 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns Byron →
Honest Group Ltd · 09327508Held by Pacific Shelf 1803 Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control in the 50% to 75% band. 1 outstanding charge on the register.
Who owns Honest Burgers →
Gourmet Burger Kitchen (UK) Limited · 06800894Held by Boparan Restaurants Holdings Limited
A company recorded as a person with significant control. 4 outstanding charges on the register.
Who owns GBK →
What does the full ledger show?
| Measure | Five Guys | Byron | Honest Burgers | GBK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Registered name | FIVE GUYS EUROPEAN HOLDINGS LIMITED | TRISTAR FOODS LIMITED | HONEST GROUP LTD | GOURMET BURGER KITCHEN (UK) LIMITED |
| Company number | 11249161 | 14536752 | 09327508 | 06800894 |
| Incorporated | 2018 | 2022 | 2014 | 2009 |
| Accounts filed | 8 October 2026 | 15 October 2026 | 13 October 2025 | 23 September 2026 |
| Turnover, prior year | £560m | £14m | £56m | £125m |
| Pre-tax profit, prior year | -£37m | -£0.7m | -£6m | £5m |
| Staff costs | £190m | £4m | £22m | £58m |
| Payroll share of turnover | 33.0% | 37.7% | 37.2% | 42.4% |
| Employees, prior year | 8,372 | 197 | 821 | 2,235 |
| Dividends paid | n/d | n/d | n/d | n/d |
| Charges outstanding | 5 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
A figure the filing does not disclose is shown as n/d; a zero in a filing is treated as not disclosed. Rounding: below £0.1m in thousands, £0.1m to £2m to one decimal place, above that to the nearest million.
Burger chains: common questions
Who is the biggest of Five Guys, Byron, Honest Burgers or GBK?
Five Guys, with turnover of £576m in the year to December 2025.
Which makes the most profit?
GBK: the smallest loss, -£0.7m pre-tax in the year to December 2025.
Which employs the most people?
Five Guys, with 8,107 employees in its latest accounts.
Five Guys or Byron: which is bigger?
Five Guys, with turnover of £576m against £11m at Byron on their latest filings. On margin, Five Guys keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Five Guys or Honest Burgers: which is bigger?
Five Guys, with turnover of £576m against £60m at Honest Burgers on their latest filings. On margin, Honest Burgers keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Five Guys or GBK: which is bigger?
Five Guys, with turnover of £576m against £138m at GBK on their latest filings. On margin, GBK keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Byron or Honest Burgers: which is bigger?
Honest Burgers, with turnover of £60m against £11m at Byron on their latest filings. On margin, Honest Burgers keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Byron or GBK: which is bigger?
GBK, with turnover of £138m against £11m at Byron on their latest filings. On margin, GBK keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Honest Burgers or GBK: which is bigger?
GBK, with turnover of £138m against £60m at Honest Burgers on their latest filings. On margin, GBK keeps more of each £100 as pre-tax profit.
Where do these figures come from?
Each company's latest accounts filed at Companies House. Each links to its full Spark Intel profile, which names the filing it comes from.
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