Five Guys Burgers & Fries franchise owner Wayne Sheffield says he plans to open a third Spokane-area restaurant this fall on the North Side.

The restaurant will occupy 2,700 square feet of leased space in a multitenant retail building near the northeast corner of Holland Avenue and Newport Highway, just southwest of the Northpointe Plaza shopping center. The building at 9502 N. Newport Highway also is occupied by a Cold Stone Creamery and other tenants, Sheffield says.

"We should be open after Thanksgiving," he says.

The restaurant will hire 30 to 40 employees, he says.

Sheffield says he's been planning to open a North Side outlet for some time.

"The North Side is a big area with a lot of people and a lot of business," he says. "We first looked at that location two years ago and finally decided we should go there."

The Lorton, Va.-based Five Guys chain specializes in hand-formed burgers made from American beef and served with a variety of toppings and condiments and fresh-cut fries.

Sheffield, who resides in Brunswick, Ga., and has a second home in Big Fork, Mont., owns the Five Guys franchise rights for all of Montana and most of Eastern Washington.

The North Side outlet will be Sheffield's fifth Five Guys restaurant. He opened his first two outlets in the franchise territory in 2009, with one in Kalispell and the other in Missoula.

He opened the first Spokane-area Five Guys restaurant a year ago at 2525 E. 29th, on the South Hill, and the second outlet last April at 10 N. Sullivan, in Spokane Valley.

Sheffield says he has no immediate plans to open another Spokane restaurant, although his long-term plans are to operate about 15 Five Guys restaurants, including outlets in the Tri-Cities, Yakima, and Walla Walla areas in Eastern Washington.