Mark Moseley is a former NFL placekicker best known for his time with the Washington Commanders, where he earned the league’s Most Valuable Player award in 1982, the only special teams player ever to do so. After retiring from a 16-year professional football career, Mark transitioned into business and franchising. He played a pivotal role in expanding Five Guys from just three locations to nearly 2,000 worldwide, helping establish the brand as a global leader in the fast-casual space. Today, Mark draws on lessons from both football and franchising to inspire leaders and operators across industries.

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Mark Moseley is the Director of Franchise Development for Five Guys Burgers and Fries. After a remarkable 16-year career as a placekicker in the NFL, including being named the league’s Most Valuable Player, Mark transitioned into the restaurant world where he has spent over two decades helping grow Five Guys from a small family business into a global brand with nearly 2,000 locations in 39 countries. He brings a unique blend of discipline, leadership, and hospitality expertise, making him a respected voice in both sports and business.

The Birth of Five Guys Franchising (01:34)

Mark shares how a sudden twist of fate with his own burger business led him straight into the Five Guys family.

“We shook hands… and that was 24 years ago, and I still am working on that handshake.”

Growing to 2000 Locations (03:31)

From just three stores to nearly 2000 in 39 countries, Mark explains the growth fueled by a relentless focus on quality, service, and cleanliness.

Fresh Ingredients & Family Pride (05:35)

Mark highlights the importance of freshness and consistency, from less-than-14-day-old beef to fries cooked in peanut oil. His granddaughter even spotted Five Guys everywhere in Europe.

“It made her feel like she was at home.”

NFL Lessons Applied to Business (06:46)

Drawing from his 16-year NFL career, Mark says success is about showing up every day, not letting teammates down, and always striving to deliver your best.

Pressure & Positivity (08:02)

Mark recalls missing four field goals in the NFC Championship but hitting the game-winner — a lesson in resilience.

“The key is just making sure that your mindset is in a positive place.”

Guest Experience is Everything (12:21)

Mark emphasizes clean bathrooms, warm greetings, and secret shoppers twice a week in every store. With average ratings of 97%, he says this system keeps pride and standards high across the brand.

Closing Ovation (16:21)

Mark’s parting message:

“All they got to do is go into Five Guys and they’ll see all these things we’ve been talking about.”

Links:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-moseley-305a4583/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/five-guys-enterprises/

Transcript

00:00:00:05 – 00:00:24:09

Zack Oates

Welcome to another edition of Give and Ovation, the Restaurant guest Experience podcast. I’m your host, Zach Oates, and each week I chat with industry experts to uncover their strategies and tactics you can use to create a five star guest experience. This podcast is powered by ovation, the feedback and operations platform built for multi-unit restaurants. Learn what’s actually happening in your restaurants and how to improve without just a long survey.

00:00:24:09 – 00:00:59:13

Zack Oates

Learn more at ovation up.com. And today, I am honored and excited to have on a quarterback actually turned kicker in the NFL. He played 16 seasons in the NFL and is the only kicker and the only full special teams player in the history of the NFL to win the NFL MVP award. He is also, to this day, correct me if I’m wrong, Mark, but you were the leading scorer for the Washington Commanders, formerly Redskins, and off the field, he’s responsible for growing five guys from three to now 2000 locations around the world.

00:00:59:13 – 00:01:04:20

Zack Oates

As the Director of Franchise development, Mark Moseley thanks for joining us on the podcast.

00:01:04:22 – 00:01:13:23

Mark Moseley

Thank you. If you could say I’m in my truck. Yes, I travel a lot. I’m on the road a lot. But yes, that’s the story.

00:01:14:00 – 00:01:34:18

Zack Oates

That is incredible, man. And right before we hit record, one of the things that we were talking about was your journey in starting and getting involved with five Guys from the very beginning, and how Five Guys might be a ten location chain right now if it weren’t for Mark. And so, Mark, I’d love to hear your story about how did you get involved with five Guys?

00:01:34:19 – 00:01:59:07

Mark Moseley

Well, I can’t take all the credit for five guys. Believe me. We’ve got an awful lot of good people that we brought on over these years that have helped us. But I did, yes, 24 years ago I was had my own hamburger place called Mosley Burgers in Herndon, Virginia. That was doing very well. I had a financial partner who came in one morning after we were just about ready to for me to go online to start franchising it.

00:01:59:09 – 00:02:35:24

Mark Moseley

When he came in to inform me that he had just sold it to another company and he said, I’m going on a safari tomorrow, and in 30 days when I get back, we’ll get this settled. And I said, no, we won’t. I said, in 30 days I will be exactly somewhere else. And sure enough, about two hours after he walked out of the store, Matt Morrell, who is one of the middle boys of the Five Guys, came into my store out of curiosity, had heard about it, and is talking about what he was there for, and I happened to just kind of mention that what had just happened, and he said, wow.

00:02:35:24 – 00:02:54:20

Mark Moseley

He said, you know, he said, I’ve been trying to talk that into franchise. You know, they had three stores at this time and they were building a fourth over on Gallows Road. And maybe if you come in, we can consider a franchising. So we actually loaded up in his car and drove over to his dad’s home. His dad met us at the front door.

00:02:54:21 – 00:03:13:08

Mark Moseley

We shook hands. We had instant rapport. We sat down and talked for a couple of hours in his living room, and about two hours later, his dad jumped out of his seat, grabbed my hand and shook it and said, hey, let’s do this and let’s have fun doing it. And that was 24 years ago, and I still am working on that handshake, if you can believe it.

00:03:13:10 – 00:03:31:24

Mark Moseley

But I just retired and I retired in December of this past year of 24, after 24 years of being the director of franchise development for the franchise and franchise and sales. And we are now up to just I think we’re right at 2000 stores now, it’s hard to keep up when we open up so many items so fast.

00:03:31:24 – 00:04:01:16

Mark Moseley

But we’re right at 2000 stores now we’re in, I think it’s 39 countries and we’re all over the world and we’re still growing every day. We’re doing some some great numbers. We’ve been very successful. And it’s mostly, you know, our core values are quality, service and cleanliness. And we’ve maintained those through all these years. And that’s one of the hardest things to do when you’re franchising, is trying to make sure that all the stores are abiding by the rules and the regulations that you’ve set that have made you successful.

00:04:01:18 – 00:04:16:15

Mark Moseley

And so far we’ve been very successful with it. And people love the hamburgers and fries and they keep coming in the door. So that’s what we’re trying to maintain. A family business is still a family owned business, and we’re trying to make it into something that people can enjoy.

00:04:16:17 – 00:04:30:21

Zack Oates

I mean, first of all, that is just such an incredible story. And it really goes to show you the whole thing of like when one door closes, another one opens, and it seems like one door close to an apartment, another door open to a mansion. And that’s incredible.

00:04:30:23 – 00:04:48:02

Mark Moseley

We’ve been very blessed to have been able to do the things that we’ve done, and that’s a tribute to the people that we have. I mean, we have our core values of quality, service and cleanliness that we stick to with every franchise. We want somebody that’s buying a burger here in Winchester, Virginia, and one that’s buying one in Dubai.

00:04:48:04 – 00:05:06:06

Mark Moseley

They’re going to have the same experience, and it’s going to be as good and the same quality over there as they get here. We’re very challenged. I mean, when you have that many stores, you’re challenged every day. But the good people that we have that work for us, that oversee our all of our stores and around the world are extremely trained.

00:05:06:09 – 00:05:14:05

Mark Moseley

They know how Five Guys has been successful, what we were doing, what we expect, and they keep following the rules and the regulations that we set.

00:05:14:07 – 00:05:35:14

Zack Oates

Yeah, and I think that’s been one of the incredible things to look at is the consistency of five guys. I mean, you go anywhere and you’re going to get a very consistent experience and the product delivers. And man, your fries are just killer. It always feels good to have a little extra spilling over, you know? Yeah.

00:05:35:16 – 00:05:53:09

Mark Moseley

Yeah. People like that bag full of fries. The great thing about our food is it’s all fresh. You know, our meat. It’s less than 14 days from grind date. All of our vegetables and everything are fresh. Our potatoes are fresh. They’re cooked a special way. And peanut oil. So we’ve tried to maintain exactly what we had at the beginning.

00:05:53:15 – 00:06:13:20

Mark Moseley

So now, some 24 years later, since we started franchising, it’s paid off for us because people know us. We get pictures from all over the world. My granddaughter just graduated from college, and she and her roommates all took a trip to Europe and every city she went into, she would take a picture in front of a five guys and send it to me.

00:06:13:22 – 00:06:30:16

Mark Moseley

And so it was, you know, it was it was it, she said. It made her feel like she was at home. So. So that was good. I told her when she left, I said, if anything happens, just find the five guys. They know how to get in touch with me. So. So I had I had five U.S. embassy.

00:06:30:16 – 00:06:31:19

Zack Oates

We got five guys.

00:06:31:19 – 00:06:38:01

Mark Moseley

That’s right. I said, I have you I have spies all over Europe, so just take care of it now.

00:06:38:02 – 00:06:46:10

Zack Oates

Mark, what is something that you learned in your 16 year NFL career that is translated into the food and bev industry?

00:06:46:12 – 00:07:03:14

Mark Moseley

Well, I think primarily is that you’ve got to do the best that you can every day you want to do for us and five guys, it’s producing the best quality that we can do every day and the best service, and we still keep our stores clean. We attend to the principles of what has made us who we are.

00:07:03:16 – 00:07:23:04

Mark Moseley

And for me, in sports and as a field goal kicker, it was just being there every day. I never wanted to let my teammates down, and that’s kind of what we do as five guys is nobody that works for five Guys wants to let the guy work in beside them down. They want to do the best they can because they know that if they’re going to get people to come back, they’ve got to produce the best food they can.

00:07:23:06 – 00:07:45:16

Mark Moseley

We’ve been able to carry that throughout, and we’ve been very successful with that story and that message to our franchisees. And here in the States, it’s pretty obvious because we’ve grown so fast here to go from three stores to 2000, you’ve got to do something right, especially in 24 years. So we’re very pleased with what were the results that we’ve had and what we’ve been able to do.

00:07:45:18 – 00:08:02:12

Zack Oates

And what would you say to someone? Because I know that, you know, you’ve not only had a great career, but you’ve also had to overcome some challenges. And I know that there in reading about some of the games that you’ve been in, there were games where you had struggles in the beginning of the game, and then when things were on the line, you delivered.

00:08:02:14 – 00:08:22:01

Mark Moseley

Well, that comes from just being positive with what you know you can do. I think you’re probably talk. I know there was an article here not too long ago that came out. The game that should have never been was when I missed four field goals in the NFC Championship game against the 40 Niners, and I came back and made the last kick of the game that won the game and put us in the Super Bowl 18.

00:08:22:03 – 00:08:38:07

Mark Moseley

And the key is just making sure that your mindset is in a positive place, that you don’t let yourself get down. You always have to have confidence in what your ability is, and that was a bad weather day. I mean, you could barely stand up on the field, much less try to kick a field goal on one leg.

00:08:38:07 – 00:09:03:17

Mark Moseley

So it made made it a little difficult, but I figured out how to do it. Finally, in order to be able to curse and win the game. The key for my career was I never wanted the same philosophy we have with five guys. I never wanted to let my teammates down. The thing that I’m probably most proud of is that in my career, those 16 years I went out 44 times in the last two minutes to kick a field goal that would win the game, and I made 43 of them.

00:09:03:18 – 00:09:17:16

Mark Moseley

The one I missed was against green Bay in, driving snowstorm and it was the last play of the game I made, I think 5 or 6 field goals in that game, and I missed the last one. It cost us. We ended up losing 45 to 47.

00:09:17:21 – 00:09:21:15

Zack Oates

Well, had they just scored another touchdown they wouldn’t have been the problem.

00:09:21:17 – 00:09:39:10

Mark Moseley

Yeah. No that was we had I think we had a kickoff return and a punt return in that game. And it was a crazy game. It’s Monday night too, so everybody saw it and that’s the one. It’s crazy. Everywhere I go. That’s the one game that people remember, because it’s the only one that I ever missed. So that they always remember that game.

00:09:39:12 – 00:09:40:02

Mark Moseley

00:09:40:04 – 00:10:06:14

Zack Oates

Yeah. Luckily I feel like from what people write about you on the internet, most people are talking about how you came in clutch so many times, and it speaks to the fact that NFL MVP, a kicker, right? Like something you couldn’t even imagine today. And the fact that you did that in 1982 is really impressive and just speaks to the fact that despite all the challenges, despite the conditions and obviously fields were much different back then.

00:10:06:14 – 00:10:26:07

Mark Moseley

RFK Stadium was a mess. RFK Stadium sits right on the Potomac River and the ground was always moist. It wasn’t a place that most kickers like to kick, but I was very fortunate that year to, be on the Redskins when they really needed somebody that could come in and win games for them, and I did. That was a strike year.

00:10:26:07 – 00:10:49:14

Mark Moseley

We only had nine games that year. We won eight and seven of them. I was the main score. We we, I think we scored 100 and I it was 124 points that year as a team and I had 78 of them. So it was kind of lopsided. So that’s how I got it. And I won out of those 7 or 8 that we won, I think I had at least I think it was 5 or 6 of those games that I ended up.

00:10:49:16 – 00:10:53:01

Mark Moseley

And one of them, we won 12 to 9 with my four field goals against Saint Louis.

00:10:53:01 – 00:10:53:15

Zack Oates

Oh my gosh.

00:10:53:16 – 00:11:18:19

Mark Moseley

So it was you know it was a good year. It was a good year. And because of the excitement when I broke, it was also the year that I set the NFL consecutive field goal record. And it was against the Giants. And it was in a driving snowstorm at RFK Stadium, and you could barely stand up. We drove down with four seconds left, and I kicked the 42 yarder to win the game to set the NFL record and to put us in the playoffs for the first time in six years.

00:11:18:19 – 00:11:28:10

Mark Moseley

So it was a big kick, but yet I was able to do it. We were very fortunate that, we ended up being in super Bowl 17 that year, so that was a good one.

00:11:28:12 – 00:11:35:24

Zack Oates

Well, Mark, as a fan of yours, I’m so impressed with your career as a fan of the Giants in the 40 Niners. I’m so frustrated by it.

00:11:35:24 – 00:11:53:20

Mark Moseley

So yeah I know, yeah, they my nickname was a giant killer because I beat the Giants so many times with Bill. Go. That was what they call me at Around the Park out there one year I think it was 79 or, or maybe it was 80 that I beat them three games that year with like second field goals.

00:11:53:20 – 00:11:56:02

Mark Moseley

We two in regular and one in the playoffs.

00:11:56:04 – 00:11:56:24

Zack Oates

Oh my gosh.

00:11:57:01 – 00:12:05:00

Mark Moseley

They they don’t like me much in New York. I’ve been up there to speak a few times and they really give me help when I show up.

00:12:05:02 – 00:12:21:22

Zack Oates

Yeah. We don’t forgive easy up in the northeast. No they don’t. But Mark, he’s you’re thinking about your coming up now in quarter century and over in the food and bev industry, including Mosley’s Burgers. What do you feel like has changed or evolved? What do you think is the most important aspect of guest experience nowadays?

00:12:21:24 – 00:12:40:16

Mark Moseley

I think it’s the quality of the food. It’s so hard now to find good restaurants or good food. People don’t take pride in anymore like they used to, and I think that’s a big key to our success, is that we have a secret shopper in every store that we have twice a week. Nobody else in the industry does that.

00:12:40:18 – 00:12:59:17

Mark Moseley

It’s an expensive thing, but for us it works. It creates an environment with our employees that they know if they’re doing a good job and they’re in the high ratings and their secret shops, they get bonus, and a lot of our employees will double or triple their salaries with the bonuses that they make. And it puts a lot of pride in the stores.

00:12:59:19 – 00:13:18:24

Mark Moseley

When you go into our stores, they’re going to use they welcome you. When you leave, they’re going to say, please come back. Thank you for coming. We try to give you a home feeling that you would want if you were eating at home, the good food, good service people, good friendly atmosphere, all the things that you really I think you really need to have a successful restaurant.

00:13:19:01 – 00:13:40:22

Mark Moseley

And there’s just so few people now that understand that and especially employees. And it’s hard to motivate your employees to where they realize that every person that walks through that door, if they come in once, you’re going to make a little money, maybe. But if they come in twice and three times, and if you service them right, and you give them good food, they’re going to come back.

00:13:40:24 – 00:14:05:16

Mark Moseley

If they don’t come back, then you’re in trouble. And, so you’ve got to do the things that make you successful for people to want to come back. Another thing to clean bathrooms. I don’t know if you noticed it, but first thing that I notice when I go in a restaurant or the bathrooms, if I go in there for to wash my hands or whatever, and I think especially for women, women, they definitely won’t come back if your bathrooms are not clean.

00:14:05:18 – 00:14:23:14

Zack Oates

Yeah, because I think the bathrooms, it’s like if you’re dirty in the bathroom and that’s what guests are seeing, then the question is what is the kitchen like? What’s the kitchen? Yeah. What’s behind? I know I could see them cooking, but what’s behind that? And if that’s going to be dirty then yeah, it’s like you just get that gross feeling.

00:14:23:14 – 00:14:39:24

Mark Moseley

Our back room is as clean as the front is and we make sure it is. I mean, that’s one of the aspects of our secret shoppers. They grade all these and these are employees don’t know who the secret shoppers are, but when they come in, they know what they have to do in order to grade high on their secret shops.

00:14:40:01 – 00:14:59:06

Mark Moseley

And yesterday or Tuesday, when I was in my executive meeting last week, it was the average store was 97% the average. So that was all of them put together was 97% across the board for their ratings. That’s probably unheard of in the industry.

00:14:59:08 – 00:15:18:08

Zack Oates

Oh yeah. I mean, certainly because it just shows that you care. I mean, that’s the kind of score that you would get when the owner is there operating the store. And the fact that that you got that across the board, it just shows the ownership, shows the pride and shows that you’ve built the values and the systems that people can follow.

00:15:18:08 – 00:15:19:14

Zack Oates

So that’s amazing.

00:15:19:16 – 00:15:45:22

Mark Moseley

We take a tremendous pride in our secret shops in the five, the Five Sons and Jerry and Janie all are very, very up on that. They love to see those scores being kept high because they know Jerry is the one that actually that came up with it probably six months after we started franchising, we realized that we needed something that was going to motivate our employees to meet because we had such high standards that we wanted them to meet and do those standards.

00:15:45:24 – 00:16:05:08

Mark Moseley

It’s been successful, and we’ve maintained that. We preach that at every conference we have to all of our franchisees, all our very employees, we preach it every day with our subs, our DMs, our district managers who are in the stores all the time. We just try to make sure that we follow those. And if we do, we know we can continue to be successful.

00:16:05:10 – 00:16:21:12

Zack Oates

Well, Mark, this has been just such a treat to connect with you, and I’m just so grateful for you taking some time to chat with us. We’d love to have you back on the next time. Where the where in the same city would love to take you out to a burger, but Mark for teaching us that peanuts, beef and a handshake can change an industry.

00:16:21:12 – 00:16:26:09

Zack Oates

Today’s ovation goes to you. Thank you for coming on. Give an ovation.

00:16:26:11 – 00:16:44:03

Mark Moseley

I appreciate it. Thanks for the opportunity. And you can tell all the people this they’ve all they got to do is go into five guys and they’ll see all these things we’ve been talking about. Because I can guarantee it that we have every store that’s doing the best they can to offer the best possible food and experience that they can have in a restaurant.

00:16:44:05 – 00:17:07:13

Zack Oates

Amen. Thanks for joining us today. If you like this episode, leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite place to listen. We’re all about feedback here. Again, this episode was sponsored by ovation, a two question, SMS based, actionable guest feedback platform built for multi-unit restaurants. If you’d like to learn how we can help you measure and create a better guest experience, visit us at ovation.

00:17:07:13 – 00:17:08:10

Zack Oates

Upcoming.

Thanks for reading! Make sure to check out the whole episode, as well as other interviews with restaurant gurus by checking out “Give an Ovation: A Podcast For Restaurants” on ovationup.com/podcast or your favorite place to listen to podcasts.

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