In-N-Out Burger products
 | |
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Founded | Baldwin Park, California, USA (1948) |
| Headquarters | Irvine, California |
Area served | California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah |
Key people | Lynsi Martinez, Owner Mark Taylor, President Roger Kotch, CFO |
| Revenue | estimated US$ 216.8 million (2007)[1] |
| 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 they have not added products such as chicken and salads to their menu or changed their preparation methods. In the present, 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.[2]
Burgers
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.[3] There are instances of extremely large sandwiches including a 100x100,[4] and possibly the largest variation, a 666x666. It was created for a Caltech Ditch Day stack in Ricketts House in the spring of 1997. The sandwich was so large, the purchaser had to construct a steel trough to transport it.[5] Once word of the extremely large sandwiches got out, the company restricted the size of hamburgers to no larger than a 4x4.[6]
In-N-Out has two low carbohydrate offerings, akin to the Atkins diet. "Protein Style", introduced in the 1970s,[2][7] replaces the bun with large leaves of lettuce; while the "Flying Dutchman" is a 2x2 with no bun, vegetables, or spread.[citation needed]
Secret Menu variations
- Hamburgers - "Double Meat" or "Triple Meat" for multiple patties.
- X by Y - Any number of 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.
- Veggie Burger - a sandwich containing only vegetables, without meat or cheese.
- Grilled cheese sandwich - served with tomato, lettuce, spread and onion.
- Extra Everything - adds extra spread, tomato, lettuce, and onions (regular or grilled).
- Extra Toast - bun is toasted longer.[8]
- Sliced Chilies - mild, pickled chopped peppers are added to the burger.
- Protein Style - any burger is wrapped in lettuce rather than being served on a bun.
- Flying Dutchman - two meat patties with two slices of American cheese between them. This style comes with no bun, no lettuce, and no tomatoes.
- Animal Style - patties are grilled with mustard or "mustard fried", add pickles, add grilled onions, lettuce, tomatoes, and extra spread.
Additional Condiments
- Spread - packets of refrigerated "Spread", similar to Thousand Island dressing.
- Yellow Peppers - packets of whole yellow Chili peppers.
- 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. "Regular Onions" is default and is a whole 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.
French fries
In-N-Out uses the Kennebec strain 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 had originally used lard or beef tallow.[9]
Secret Menu variations
- Fries "Light" - Decreased cooking time for a softer product.
- Fries "Well" - Increased cooking time for a crispier product.
- Fries "Extra-Well" - Further increased cooking time for a very crispy product.
- "Animal Style" - Melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions.
- Cheese fries - called fries with cheese
Beverages
The company offers lemonade, iced tea, coffee, three flavors of milk shakes, and soda. Like most fast food companies, In-n-Out serves soda from two different companies. It serves Coca-Cola Classic, Diet Coke, and Barq's root beer—except in Utah, where it serves caffeine-free Barq's Famous Olde Tyme 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.
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
See also
References
- ^ "In-N-Out Burgers, Inc. Company Profile".
- ^ a b Tom McNichol (2002-08-14). "The Secret Behind A Burger Cult". The New York Times. p. Late Edition - Final, Section F, Page 1, Column 1. Retrieved 2007-07-21.
Over the years, this trend has evolved into what's become known as the Secret Menu -- a list of popular burger variations that do not appear on the menu but are passed along by word of mouth.
- ^ "In-N-Out 100x100". 2006-01-23. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
Personal account of a 100x100 sandwich.
- ^ Legends of Caltech III. Caltech Alumni Association. May 2007. ISBN 978-0-9764321-0-4.
{{cite book}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "Welcome to Burger Heaven". Retrieved 2-8-2010.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ Daisy Nguyen (2004-03-26). "Bunless burgers old hat at In-N-Out". The Oakland Tribune. Retrieved 2007-06-17.
In fact, it was customers who gave it the name protein style," said Carl Van Fleet, the company's vice president of planning. "They also created it, in a sense, when they began requesting it in the early 1970s...
- ^ John Marcotte (2005-02-25). "In-N-Out's secret menu". Badmouth. Retrieved 2008-08-16.
- ^ "IN-N-OUT Burger". 2006-08-08.
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.