Golden State's better burgers

0 Comments | Insight on the News, July 21, 1997 | by Gayle M.B. Hanson

For the best burgers, fries and shakes this side of heaven, look no further than In-N-Out Burgers.

Remember cruising with the top down into the parking lot of Mel's Diner looking for the perfect cheeseburger with the works, hot and crispy french fries and a thick shake that had seen the inside of a cow? So maybe the food itself wasn't all that fast. What's the rush? But it was as real as the juice dripping from the hamburger bun and rolling down your elbow.

Well, save the earnest lamentations. In-N-Out Burgers, a family-owned Southern California chain with fewer than 200 stores, has just walloped the biggest names in the fast-food industry to win a Choice in Chains Award from Restaurants and Institutions, the fast-food industry trade organization. "They did a better job among their customers than any other chain did with theirs," Barbara Allelujka, director of food-service research at Restaurants and Institutions, tells Insight. "In-N-Out simply had a higher percentage ranking it `excellent' than the others."

In-N-Out Burgers has a fanatical following. In Northern California, where the company has expanded during the last several years, lines appear as soon as a store opens for business -- despite that the chain does not advertise. And oh, what people will do for a "Double Double" burger!

"I've been here between three and four times a week since they first opened," says Peter Mariopoulos, who works for a San Ramon appliance dealership. "The first day I waited in line for an hour. It's actually gotten better. One thing I learned, though, is don't come down on Friday night. It's crazy"

What drives In-N-Out's legions of loyalists? They simply cannot have enough of a good thing -- in this case, the best burger this side of heaven. The renowned Double Double (a favorite of actress Farrah Fawcett's) features two fresh meat patties, crispy hand-torn lettuce, special sauce, a thick tomato slice and onions (if you dare), atop a toasted bun. If the Double Double doesn't do it, try the Triple Triple or the Five by Five -- five patties, five slices of cheese and five extra hours on the stair machine.

The side orders are equally palatable. Fries are hand-cut and peeled onsite from Kennebec potatoes. Shakes are 100 percent dairy delicious.

"On days that I know that I'm going to eat here, I just don't plan on having a big dinner," says Mariella Whyte, who looks like her idea of a big dinner is a second trip to the salad bar. "But the fries are to die for."

At the Pinole store of In-N-Out, 21-year-old manager Bill Robinson says he has decided to work for the company for the rest of his life. "These people are wonderful people," says Robinson. "On the day that we opened, the owner drove up in a big white bus and before he opened the store we all stopped and said a prayer." Many In-N-Out employees have been with the company for 20 or more years.

But don't expect In N-Out Burgers to be coming to your neck of the woods any time soon -- that is, unless you're lucky to live along the Northern California interstate corridor where In-N-Out stores are popping up faster than you can say Double Double. The company isn't planning to go national. Founded in Baldwin Park in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder, In-N-Out was the first drive-through burger joint in the state and has never changed the menu or crossed the border.

Nevertheless, Wall Street watches in admiration as son Rich Snyder grows the business. "We still do things the way they were done in the forties," says Snyder. "Everyone used fresh ingredients. We just never changed that."