There's one In-and-Out Burger in Utah and another 230 spread over California, Nevada and Arizona. There are none in other states and many folks there envy us. In-and-Out, they hear, is the supreme fast food hamburger…a "must-do" when one vacations in any state that has one.
This article wonders aloud if a pending change at the ownership level — a different family member in charge — will ruin the "perfection" of In-and-Out. As a longtime In-and-Out customer, I would like to make the following points…
- In-and-Out has the best "fast food" burger I've had in California but that's kinda like saying someone is the most dignified of the Three Stooges. In-and-Out wouldn't seem so good if Jack-in-the Box, Carl's Jr, Burger King and so many others weren't so lousy. It isn't so much that In-and-Out does it well but that so many of the others do it so poorly.
- A lot of that is simply a matter of freshness. An In-and-Out hamburger is made to order and if you eat it there (or as I often do, in my car minutes after purchase), it can be quite wonderful. On the other hand, if you take it home and eat it a half hour later, it isn't much better than a McDonald's quarter-pounder that's been sitting under their little sunlamps for a while. Conversely, I've occasionally gotten a McDonald's burger that came to me right off the grill and it was pretty darn good. Half the problem with so-called "fast food" is that it isn't fast. It was assembled fifteen minutes ago from components that were prepared an hour ago.
- On the other hand, In-and-Out french fries are too fresh. They're a little better if you ask for them "well done" but they still aren't as good as most "fast food" fries.
- Some people object to the little Bible quotes printed on some In-and-Out wrappings. They don't bother me. I often get annoyed at general preachiness but these don't bother me. Matter of fact, I think some other chains should try quoting scriptures on their packaging…like Jack-in-the-Box, for instance. If you eat there, you'd better pray.
- Lastly: The last few times I ate at an In-and-Out Burger, I was disappointed. It was edible but that's about it…and I'm still trying to decide if it's the food or me or just bad luck to get some less-than-stellar burgers. Since I lost all that weight and especially since I cut my sugar consumption down to around 5% of the old levels, my taste buds have changed. "Fast food" ain't as yummy as some of it used to be. But what makes me think it's not me is that when I said that here a few months ago, I got a number of e-mails from folks who hadn't changed their eating habits and felt that In-and-Out was in decline. I don't know if the chain has changed anything about the product but it wouldn't surprise me.
What I think I always liked about In-and-Out was not so much the food as the attitude — the freshness, the simplicity of the menu, the feeling of cleanliness, the absence of silly promotions, etc. That the burger was so good was a happy result of all that. I dunno what'll happen with the management of the corporation but if they stick to those principles, they should do just fine.