In-N-Out Burger: Five things you didn’t know about the legendary fast food chain

In-N-Out Burger’s food is legendary and Sydneysiders are being teased with a four-hour pop-up restaurant today. But here are five facts about the hugely successful chain that you might not know.

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In-N-Out Burger is legendary.

The California-based chain will today, for a few short hours, tease Sydneysiders with a pop-up shop at Dead Ringer restaurant and bar in Surry Hills from 12pm.

They’ve done it before in Darlinghurst and Parramatta, but the company has shut down any rumours of a Sydney store opening up.

Despite being around in the US for more than half a century, In-N-Out Burger remains one of the most popular fast food restaurants in the six American states it currently operates in.

But how much do you know about the chain that will make a fleeting appearance in Sydney this afternoon?

Here are five quick - and some little known - facts about the West Coast institution:

1. The Secret Menu

Animal Fries are only available from the ‘secret menu’. Picture: Instagram

To be honest, it’s the not-so-secret-menu these days. You won’t find these items on the wall when you walk into any one of the chain’s nearly 300 stores but if you say the magic words, the person behind the counter won’t look at you strangely. One of the most popular of these secret menu delights is the ‘animal fries’ where your already tasty fries are made even better with melted cheese, the company’s special sauce and chopped onions.

2. Simplicity is key

Simplicity: There are just four items on the food section of the In-N-Out Burger menu. Picture: Sheridan Rogers.

Part of the beauty and success of In-N-Out Burger is their simple and unchanging menu. Unlike their competitors who now have dozens of options to choose from, In-N-Out focuses on just a few. Not taking into account their secret menu, they pretty much have just three main items - the hamburger, the cheeseburger (and slight variations of both) and fries. They concentrate their efforts on making these the best they can be and that has been the way since the chain’s humble beginnings in the late 1940s.

3. Has its own university

In-n-Out University: The training school for managers of In-N-Out Hamburger restaurants. Picture: Flickr / Don Barrett

In-N-Out has some of the best paid fast food managers in the US and that is reflected in the average store boss staying with the company for almost 15 years. And it’s not just the six-figure salary that keeps them happy - the burger joint has a ‘university’ that teaches managers how to best run their store with a focus on quality. You might not graduate from this university with a degree, but you’ll get paid pretty handsomely.

4. Hidden bible verses on the bottom of cups

Look hard enough and you’ll find these bible passages printed underneath In-N-Out cups. Picture: Wikipedia

If you turn your In-N-Out Burger cup upside down, you’ll find an interesting feature inconspicuously printed underneath. Bible passages, including ‘Revelation 3:20,’ and ‘Proverbs 3:5’, can be found in tiny script. This tradition began in the 1980s when then company president Rich Snyder - son of founders Harry and Esther Snyder - called for it. Even after Rich’s untimely death in a 1993 plane crash the process was continued and is a mark of the Snyder family’s deep religious beliefs.

5. Pretty much invented the modern-day drive-through

The famous In-N-Out Burger at the corner of Gayley and Le Conte in Westwood, Los Angeles.

In-N-Out Burger opened its first store in 1948. That very same year founder Harry Snyder introduced something that would revolutionise the fast food industry - the speakerphone for drive-through. It was the first of its kind and Harry reportedly had to teach his customers how to use it the technology was so advanced. It wasn’t until 1975 that McDonald’s had their first speakerphone drive-through.

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