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In-N-Out Burger, the Southern California burger chain known for its cult following, earned high scores in nearly every consumer satisfaction category of this year’s Consumer Picks survey.
The 70-year-old brand perennially ranks high on various consumer surveys. In the Consumer Picks survey, In-N-Out scored especially high on brand loyalty, food quality and service.
The chain posted the top True Loyalty score, with 63 percent of respondents saying their visits are driven by a true desire to experience In-N-Out brand, as opposed to convenience.
Despite today’s on-demand economy, In-N-Out fans are willing to sacrifice convenience for their Double-Double. The brand, which often draws long drive-thru lines, may not keep pace with speedier quick-service rivals, but customers still leave happy. In fact, In-N-Out had the highest score for service in the survey, with 70 percent saying it was “best in class” or “above average.”
Respondents also gave the brand high marks for freshness and taste. It earned top scores among all brands for freshness, taste, service and high-quality food.
Vice president of operations Denny Warnick said the chain’s formula for success is sticking to the same limited menu of fresh, never frozen, burgers and fries created by founders Harry and Esther Snyder in 1948.
“Since we only serve burgers, fries and drinks, making a high-quality hamburger patty is everything to us,” Warnick told Nation’s Restaurant News in a statement.
In-N-Out butchers and produces its own beef patties, which are delivered to its restaurants from three patty-making facilities in California and Texas. Each of the chain’s more than 330 restaurants in California, Utah, Oregon, Texas, Arizona and Nevada are strategically located within a day’s drive to a plant.
“This makes it possible for the fresh hamburger patties produced by our team of butchers to be delivered to every location by the following morning,” Warnick said.
A fourth beef production facility is in the works for Colorado to support the Irvine, Calif.-based brand’s highly anticipated expansion to that state in a couple of years.
The Snyders opened the first In-N-Out across the street from their house in Baldwin Park, Calif. The company is now run by their granddaughter, Lynsi Snyder.
Contact Nancy Luna at [email protected]
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