2005 Consumers' Choice in Chains: Burgers
In-N-Out Burger

When Carl Van Fleet says, “There’s really nothing new to report,” the vice president-planning of In-N-Out Burger isn’t being coy. There really is nothing new to report.

Harry and Esther Snyder opened the first In-N-Out in Baldwin Park, Calif., in 1948. It boasted a two-way speaker system that allowed customers to order from their cars without carhops. It was a hit, so why tinker? The company since has opened 192 additional units, primarily in California but a few in Nevada and Arizona as well.

It’s tempting to call In-N-Out Burger “retro,” but that suggests a conscious nod to the past. In fact, In-N-Out is in the past. Very little beyond décor and kitchen-equipment technology has changed in a half-century, and that is one reason its fans are legion, loyal and of all ages.

McDonald’s began in the same era and with a similar limited-menu concept from which it quickly strayed. Its addition this month of three Premium Chicken sandwiches is more menu expansion than In-N-Out has done in its entire history. It doesn’t do chicken, thank you.

Van Fleet defines the chain’s target audience simply as “anybody who likes to eat hamburgers.” In-N-Out menus the twin-patty Double-Double, a cheeseburger and hamburger. Patties are fresh, never frozen, and cooked to order. Fries, soft drinks and shakes (made with real ice cream) complete the brief menu board. Salads? Jalapeño Cheddar breakfast burritos? Let somebody else sell ’em.

The In-N-Out Web site’s promotion of “Ordering as easy as 1, 2, 3” is innocently humorous.

Not surprisingly, In-N-Out customers don’t give high marks for menu variety, but its score for service is best-in-category. The limited menu and effective training programs keep service fast, friendly and efficient. The chain doesn’t need uniforms designed by couturiers to make staff proud to wear its colors. The brand is so hip that it sells logoed apparel online.

Any Way But Not Anywhere
Another of its service strengths is a willingness to play a bit fast and loose with the admittedly sparse official menu. In-N-Out’s “secret menu” isn’t so undercover anymore: Click the Secret Menu link on the chain’s Web site and learn that, yes, the urban legends are true. Customers can ask for a “3x3” and get a triple-patty burger. The “Animal Style” request yields a “mustard cooked burger” plus lettuce, tomato, pickle, an extra helping of its proprietary sandwich spread and grilled onions. The “Grilled Cheese” request means omit the burger patty.

In-N-Out doesn’t franchise. It doesn’t rush to open additional stores when times are good so it doesn’t need to close underperforming units in economic downturns. Last year it added 11 locations; this year, says Van Fleet, at least 10 more—perhaps as many as 20. They’ll look like the others and share the same menu.

Despite its three-state trading area, 13% of consumers in the Northeast, thousands of miles from the nearest In-N-Out unit, say they know the chain. In the Midwest it’s 18%. By the time you get to Western states, awareness tops 73%.

To know the chain is to love it and to want it, apparently. A spring editorial in the University of Southern California’s campus paper, the Daily Trojan, argued that the campus badly needs—no, deserves—an In-N-Out Burger unit nearby. Why? “Because, frankly, that’s what a hamburger is all about,” to quote the chain’s decades-old radio jingle.

Gold Winner
Culver’s Frozen Custard & ButterBurgers, with a name almost as long as In-N-Out’s menu, shares a number of similarities with the West Coast chain. A family-owned operation with a reputation that exceeds its regional territory, Culver’s understands the importance of focusing on the basics.

As it has expanded to 293 units and beyond its beginnings 21 years ago in central Wisconsin, Culver’s has maintained its Midwestern personality. Cod sandwiches and dinner platters are a nod to Friday night fish fries. Dairyland Cheese Curd snacks and buttered buns for burgers (thus the chain name) also honor its roots. Orders are placed at the counter but food is delivered to guests seated at their tables, as has been its service style from the start.

Other traditions are community involvement and employee support. The chain this year will present more than $150,000 in scholarships to crew members.

Crystal Winner
When Mike Snyder was named CEO of Red Robin Gourmet Burgers in 1996, one of his first acts was to define the brand’s culture. He labeled it “unbridled,” appropriate to the chain’s Colorado home base, and encouraged what he calls Unbridled Acts: spontaneous acts of thoughtful, kind attention to customer needs.

One of Red Robin’s core values is Gift of Time, a pledge to ensure that guests are given “special moments” in exchange for the time they spend at one of the chain’s 274 restaurants.

A continually updated menu of 22 beef, chicken, turkey or fish burgers plus other items from Southwest chicken pasta to pot roast earned Red Robin the category’s highest score for menu variety. The operation also received the top score for atmosphere, and the chain prides itself on a family-friendly ambience that appeals to young and old, to men and women.