Five Guys Burgers and Fries opened Monday at The Strip, and we got a chance to talk about it with Elizabeth Smith, Five Guys director of talent sourcing.

Smith said the new store at 6652 Strip Ave. NW is part of a franchisee group of stores located in the Northeast Ohio and Pittsburgh area. She's in charge of hiring employees for the stores in the area and only looks for high-energy employees, she said.

Smith said the North Canton location is the first store of this group to be built from the ground up and workers spent extra time making sure every detail was right before it opened.  

Smith said the chain's focus is to only serve a couple of items but make sure that they are all done well. The chain does not spend any money on marketing; instead it relies on word of mouth and quality food.  

Five Guys offers burgers and fries, of course, but also Hebrew National hot dogs, grilled cheese and drinks. All toppings are free for their burgers and there are 15 different ones to choose from. All food is prepared fresh daily. Smith said that employees arrived at 6 a.m. Monday to make sure everything was ready for the 11 a.m. opening.

The store has much higher standards than even the health department, Smith said. They even have five facts that they want people to know about their stores:

• There are more than 250,000 possible ways to order a burger at Five Guys.
• They use only fresh ground beef.
• There are no freezers in Five Guys locations, just coolers. Nothing is ever frozen.
• They use only peanut oil.
• The menu is trans-fat free.