A new Five Guys Burgers and Fries will open on Church Street downtown this spring, adding to an expanding number of fast-casual restaurants in the area.

Hasson Johnson, manager at the Five Guys on Amity Road in New Haven, confirmed on Friday that a second Elm City location will open next month closer to the Yale campus.

“As of right now, the plan for it to be open is in the middle of May,” Johnson said.

The restaurant will open on 91 Church St., across from Buffalo Wild Wings and around the corner from Starbucks. As of press time, a Five Guys spokesperson had not responded to a request for comment.

Students interviewed expressed mixed allegiances to the many burger restaurants in New Haven, which include Louis’ Lunch, where the hamburger was allegedly invented.

Amanda Aguilera ’17 said Louis’ Lunch’s originality and high-quality meat trump any other burger joint in the city.

Other students, including Allie Banwell ’17, disagreed, saying that Five Guys is a welcome addition downtown.

Banwell, who hails from Charlotte, North Carolina, said she has been to one of the chain restaurant’s locations in her hometown, and is excited for a new affordable burger option.

“We have a new contender for best burger in New Haven,” she said. “Finally a fast food restaurant in New Haven that has both great quality and a great price.”

The Five Guys menu includes custom hamburgers with various toppings, hot dogs, fries and milkshakes. The burgers range from roughly $6 to $8, while the fries and hot dogs range from $4 to $5.

Shake Shack, which opened in the fall of 2012, offers a similar menu with hamburgers, hotdogs and frozen custard.

Mao Shiyuan ’17 said that although she believes Shake Shack is a student favorite, it will have to compete with Five Guys’s slightly lower prices.

“Five Guys’s burgers are a little more blue-collar, whereas sometimes I think Shake Shack tries to make their burgers a little too cultured,” John Lazarsfeld ’17 said. “I think the Five Guys opening will create some good competition that will up the quality of food and service at both places.”

The management at Shake Shack New Haven declined to comment on Five Guys’s Church Street opening.

According to the company’s website, Five Guys was started by the Murrell family in Washington, D.C. in 1986. Since then, the restaurant chain has expanded across the United States and Canada.

Five Guys has 22 locations in Connecticut, including restaurants in Stamford, Mystic and Groton.

Interested in getting more news about New Haven? Join our newsletter!

CAROLINE HART