10 Things You Didn't Know About In-N-Out Burger

There's a lot more to the cultish West Coast burger chain than the "secret" menu.

Alison Herman

Everyone knows In-N-Out Burger: Californians have eaten more orders of “Animal Style” fries than they can count, and non-Californians have ex-pat friends who won’t shut up about the burger chain whose cult following makes Shake Shack’s look tame. But just how well do you really know In-N-Out?

The notoriously private chain, family-owned for more than 60 years, isn’t much for publicity, but there’s still plenty to unearth about the Golden State’s most beloved export. We’ve collected ten lesser-known trivia about In-N-Out, from its current president’s lifelong hobby to its most notable celebrity fans. Here are ten things you didn’t know about In-N-Out, so you can devour your next Double Double as a more informed customer.

Written by Alison Herman (@aherman2006)

Company President Lynsi Torres Is an Avid Drag Racer

Torres picked up the hobby from her dad, former president Guy Snyder, and regularly competes with the National Hot Rod Association. Torres, who’s rumored to be the youngest female billionaire in the country, inherited the chain in 2006 as the sole granddaughter of co-founder Esther Snyder; she was just 24 at the time.
Paris Hilton Blamed Her DUI On an In-N-Out Craving

The heiress was on her way to score a burger when she was pulled over and arrested for drinking and driving in 2006. She then told Ryan Seacrest that she was driving "a little fast" because she "just wanted some In-N-Out" after attending a charity event. Who wouldn't break a few traffic laws for a Double Double?
Julia Child Was a Die-Hard Fan

In-N-Out has plenty of celebrity admirers, but Child outclasses all the rest. She used to carry around a list of store locations with her in her pocketbook, and even commissioned her assistant to score some burgers while in the hospital recovering from knee surgery. Now just imagine Child wishing herself bon appétit before biting into an Animal Style cheeseburger.
Employees Are Extremely Well-Compensated

Every single response from the “IamA cook at In-N-Out Burger” Reddit AMA from four months ago has been deleted, but readers managed to screen-grab some tidbits, including managers’ astonishingly high salaries: more than $100,000 a year, plus full benefits and rewards like all-expenses-paid vacations tied to performance. Even entry-level "associates" (never employees) make $10 an hour, far above the minimum wage paid by competitors. On the flip side, they can also be fired for having tattoos or piercings, or even bringing beer to family picnics.
Shhhh—There's Another Secret Menu

By now the “secret” menu is such a farce that the company’s posted a version on its website under the heading "Not-So-Secret Menu." But according to the same Reddit AMA, there are several legitimately top-secret items that’ll never make it into wide circulation thanks to the chain’s menu-alteration restrictions. Among them: off-the-cuff creations that cooks make in their spare time (think ground beef and bacon fries or bun doughnuts) and, more significantly, chili dogs that the company serves at official company functions.
All In-N-Out Packaging Comes With Its Own Bible Verse

Longtime president Rich Snyder, son of founders Harry and Esther Snyder, was a born-again evangelical Christian; his legacy remains in the tiny script denoting Bible verses found on all In-N-Out packaging. There’s a different verse for each menu item: burger wrappers have Revelation 3:20, Double-Double wrappers Nahum 1:7, and so on. Snyder justified the practice as “just something I wanted to do.”
...But the Company Used to Be Way More Up Front with Religion

A 1991 holiday season radio spot for In-N-Out—one of the more extreme initiatives under Rich Snyder’s leadership—asked listeners to consider letting Jesus into their lives after playing the chain’s jingle. Some stations flat-out refused to air the commercial, while others edited out the overtly Christian parts. In response to a caller who claimed “not everyone who listens to you is a Christian,” In-N-Out spokeswoman Karen Thornton responded, “Well, that’s too bad.”
There's a Reason Why Burgers Can't Be Larger Than 4x4

Although the not-so-secret menu allows customers to build super-sized burgers (kudos to readers who’ve consumed a "Quadruple-Quadruple" and lived to tell the tale), there are limits. After some intrepid customers ordered a 100x100 at a Vegas location for $97.66, ate it all, and catalogued their experience for the Internet (complete with some truly gross pictures that aren’t technically NSFW but should be), the management banned any burger larger than a 4x4.
Even Highbrow Chefs Aren't Above In-N-Out

Shouty reality star Gordon Ramsay fessed up to devouring back-to-back "extraordinary" Double-Doubles in 2008, and Thomas Keller ordered in 300 burgers to celebrate the French Laundry's 12th anniversary. Keller's such a devotee that he even posed for a Food & Wine profile in a trademark In-N-Out cap, opposite his local outpost's manager.
And the First Rapper to Immortalize In-N-Out Was...

Plenty of rappers have paid tribute to In-N-Out over the years, but the Bay Area’s Andre Nickatina got there way before Childish Gambino. On “Cadillac Girl,” from his 2002 album Hell's Kitchen, he describes his ideal order: “Pedal to the metal when you’re ridin’ with the devil/Did just that at In-N-Out Burger/No pickles, no onions, no playin’.” Andre’s clearly not a fan of the Animal Style.

10 Things You Didn't Know About In-N-Out Burger

Company President Lynsi Torres Is an Avid Drag Racer

Paris Hilton Blamed Her DUI On an In-N-Out Craving

Julia Child Was a Die-Hard Fan

Employees Are Extremely Well-Compensated

Shhhh—There's Another Secret Menu

All In-N-Out Packaging Comes With Its Own Bible Verse

...But the Company Used to Be Way More Up Front with Religion

There's a Reason Why Burgers Can't Be Larger Than 4x4

Even Highbrow Chefs Aren't Above In-N-Out

And the First Rapper to Immortalize In-N-Out Was...

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