Open secret: Five Guys Burgers and Fries has set up shop in town.

Not-so-open secret: The Virginia-based hamburger chain is opening the doors to its first Tucson franchise after Labor Day. It is taking over the former Hollywood Video location at the northeast corner of North Campbell Avenue and East Glenn Street.

Five Guys has a simple and straightforward menu — burgers, fries, hot dogs and soda — and red-and-white tile decor. Customers can customize their burgers with 15 toppings that include grilled mushrooms, onions and A-1 sauce.

Doug Vaughan and Jeff Noyce, co-franchisees of Tucson’s Five Guys, became interested in the business two years ago.

“”I had a buddy of mine who went to Five Guys. He said, ‘Hey, you’ve got to try it. The food is excellent.’ So I did. It was really the food, it was really the experience I had that ultimately drove our interest to look at this business opportunity,”” Vaughan said.

Five Guys has been expanding its brand ever since it began selling franchise rights outside Virginia and Washington, D.C. in 2003. The chain is expected to have 775 franchises by the end of this year, according to Jerry Murrell, Five Guys founder, president and CEO, in Nation’s Restaurant News.

The burger chain often receives praise from newspapers, magazines and bloggers that serve in place of the company’s absence of advertising. In a NBC Nightly News special last year, President Barack Obama made an unscheduled stop to a Five Guys in Washington, D.C. Zagat Survey, a publication that relies on participant reviews, declared Five Guys as its best burger in its Fast-Food Survey released earlier this month, beating last year’s winner, In-N-Out.

College students in Tucson have many places to get a burger with choices ranging from Burger King to Frog & Firkin to Zinburger. Vaughan said he believes Five Guys can still fill an untapped niche for anyone looking for a good burger.

“”As far as burgers go, I believe our food speaks for itself,”” he said.