In-N-Out Burger products

In-N-Out Burger

Type	Private
Founded	Baldwin Park, California, USA (1948)
Headquarters	Irvine, California
Area served	California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas
Key people	Lynsi Martinez, Owner Mark Taylor, President Roger Kotch, CFO
Revenue	estimated US$ 216.8 million (2007)
Website	www.in-n-out.com

When In-N-Out Burger first opened in 1948, the company provided only a basic menu of burgers, fries and beverages. The foods they prepared were made on location from fresh ingredients, including their french fries which were sliced and cooked to order. Unlike the other major competitors in the hamburger fast food restaurant business -- Burger King, McDonald's and Wendy's -- as the chain grew in the intervening years, it has not added products such as chicken and salads to its menu or changed its preparation methods. Even into the 21st century, the company's menu still only lists burgers, fries and beverages advertised as being produced on site from fresh ingredients.

Instead of a broad menu like its competitors, In-N-Out has become known for its Secret Menu, unadvertised variations on its burgers that are based on customer preferences, such as the popular "animal style."

Burgers

Animal-style cheeseburger, fries, drink.

All burgers consist of one or more 1/8 lb. beef patties cooked to "medium-well", and served on a toasted bun. The default style of burger includes tomato, leaf lettuce and "spread", a sauce similar to Thousand Island dressing. In addition, customers are asked if they wish to add raw or grilled onions.

The bulk of the secret menu revolves around the burgers. The company advertises that "Animal Style" is one of the most popular "secret" styles; in addition to the standard toppings, Animal Style burgers include pickles, extra spread, grilled onions, and mustard fried onto each meat patty. "3×3" (pronounced 3-by-3), "4×4", or variations of "m" × "c", refers to a burger with a varied amount of meat patties, "m", and slices of cheese, "c": e.g. a burger with six meat patties and three slices of cheese is a "6×3". The In-N-Out "secret menu" section of the website only mentions the 3x3 and 4x4. There are instances of extremely large sandwiches. On October 31, 2004, a group of friends ordered a 100x100 from a location in Las Vegas, Nevada, posting photos on the web of the burger. Fearing negative publicity from the site, the company restricted the size of hamburgers to no larger than a 4x6.

In-N-Out has two low carbohydrate offerings, akin to the Atkins diet. "Protein Style", introduced in the 1970s, replaces the bun with large leaves of lettuce; while the "Flying Dutchman" is a 2x2 with no bun, no vegetables, and no spread.

Secret menu variations

A pair of 3x3 cheeseburgers and fries.

J. Kenji Lopez-Alt, Managing Editor of Serious Eats, with the help of an In-N-Out employee ordered and catalogued every single secret menu item, publishing the results in The Ultimate In-N-Out Secret Menu (and Super Secret Menu!) Survival Guide. In-N-Out's own website acknowledges the existence of its secret menu, listing the following six choices while noting that these are just "some of the most popular items on our not-so-secret menu."

• Double Meat - "Two 100% pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun."
• 3 x 3 - "Three 100% pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, three slices of American cheese, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun."
• 4 x 4 - "Four 100% pure beef patties, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, Four slices of American cheese, with or without onions, stacked high on a freshly baked bun."
• Grilled Cheese - "Two slices of melted American cheese, hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, spread, with or without onions on a freshly baked bun."
• Protein Style - "Your favorite burger wrapped in hand-leafed lettuce, instead of a bun."
• Animal Style - "Burger of your choice with hand-leafed lettuce, tomato, a mustard cooked beef patty; add pickle, extra spread, with grilled onions."

Other secret menu items that have been documented elsewhere include:

• X by Y - X patties and Y slices of cheese. A change in policy recently has limited the amount of meat and cheese per burger to 4 each. Prior to the change, there was no limit but the maximum number of patties and cheese ever bought was a 100x100 .
• Veggie Burger - A sandwich containing only vegetables, without meat or cheese.
• Sliced Chillies - Mild, pickled chopped peppers are added to the burger.
• Flying Dutchman - Two meat patties with two slices of American cheese between them. This style comes with no bun, no lettuce, and no tomatoes.

Additional condiments

• Spread - packets of refrigerated "Spread", similar to Thousand Island dressing.
• Yellow Peppers - packets of whole yellow Chili peppers. These can also be added to your burger by requesting "Chopped Chilies."
• Pickles - pickles do not come on the burger and can be added upon request

Onion styles

The company's customization extends to the onions it serves. The default style of "Regular Onions" consists of an entire slice of fresh onion. The company will also serve the slice cooked ("whole grilled"), raw chopped, and grilled. How the onions are ordered will determine its placement on the sandwich; raw whole onions are placed with the cold ingredients, cooked onions are on the burger patty.^{[citation needed]}

French fries

An In-N-Out employee preparing potatoes for its french fries.

Animal fries from In-N-Out Burger's secret menu

In-N-Out uses the Kennebec variety of potato for its fries and prepares them in store as opposed to purchasing them pre-made from other companies. The company's french fries have always been fried in vegetable oil while other chains have historically used lard or beef tallow.

Secret menu variations

These are also posted at The Ultimate In-N-Out Secret Menu (and Super Secret Menu!) Survival Guide.

• Fries "Light" - Decreased cooking time for a softer product.
• Fries "Light Well" - Slightly increased cooking time for a crispy outside.
• Fries "Well" - Increased cooking time for a crispier product.
• Fries "Extra-Well" - Further increased cooking time for a very crispy product.
• "Animal Fries" - Melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions.
• Cheese fries - Fries with cheese

Beverages

The company offers lemonade, iced tea, coffee, three flavors of milk shakes, and soda. Unlike most fast food companies, In-N-Out serves soda from two different companies. It serves Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, and Barq's Famous Olde Tyme Root Beer —except in Utah, where it serves caffeine-free Barq's root beer — from the Coca-Cola Company, and 7 Up and Dr Pepper from the Dr Pepper Snapple Group. The company advertises its milkshakes as hand-made with ice cream, unlike the soft serve style sold at other major fast-food businesses.^{[citation needed]}

Secret menu variations

• Root beer floats
• "Lemon-Up" — a mixture of lemonade and 7 Up.
• Lemonade/Tea mix — known as an "Arnold Palmer", a mixture of iced tea and lemonade.
• Choco-Vanilla Swirl shake — a mixture of vanilla and chocolate flavors
• Neapolitan shake — a mixture of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavors
• "Large" shake and "Extra Large" shake. Large is a medium drink cup, Extra Large is a Large Drink Cup.

Further Reading

• Perman, Stacy (2009). In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules. New York: Harper Collins Publishers. ISBN 978-0-06-134671-2.