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Thursday, 14 July 2011

Can we crowdsource an In-N-Out Burger in London...

Update: 16 October 2012


In-N-Out have just popped up in London for a day - read the full review and details in this In-N-Out London Pop-Up post.

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A question that reared it's double-double, animal style head earlier this week on Twitter was whether In-N-Out were planning their first outpost in our very own London town. Naturally I got very excited, in spite of the likelihood that it was all a vicious rumour, and I started to dream of a world where I could pop into In-N-Out on Clerkenwell Road during my lunch hour, and feast on the wondrous joyful burgers they offer. 


So when I engaged with Marcus de Vere of @anpburgers on Twitter over the likelihood of In-N-Out ever expanding to London, there were some clear signs that it was very unlikely - the facts appear to be:
  • all In-N-Out locations have to be within a day's drive of their own processing facilities
  • they are careful not to open in a location until they can guarantee the same quality food and service as they provide in their existing locations 
  • they currently have 250 branches in California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Texas and hasn't spread to the other 45 states in the US
So I thought it was time to get in touch with them and see what their plans were for us humble, yet cultish, burger lovers in London.


My email was simple - do they have any expansion plans for the UK, and if they were interested to know that they already have a fair few fans in London. I used the contact form on their official In-N-Out burger website, and within hours I received this response:


As far as I'm concerned, if Jonathan says it might happen, I'm clinging to the dream. And so should you. 

My campaign is to see if we can crowdsource our very own In-N-Out burger joint in London town. So, fellow burger lovers, please help me. As Jonathan mentioned in his email above, In-N-Out "are intent on expanding as far as they can, and particularly into areas their customers have expressed interest.

You can do your bit by either sending an email to request they launch in London by using their email form, send them a message on Facebook saying how much you'd love to see In-N-Out in London http://www.facebook.com/innout, or both!

Oh, and when you're done, drop a comment here to let me know so we can celebrate or commiserate together!

11 comments:

  1. I'm clinging to the dream with you!!! have just posted on their wall now! How I love In N Out!!! There's a place next to Ikea in Birmingham that is called In N Out..you should have just seen me hyperventilating in the car as we drove past until I realised it was a garage!!! disappointment of the century!

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  2. My sentiments exactly!

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  3. A lovely idea but it seriously, honestly, absolutely is not going to happen I'm afraid.

    Chris Pople tried this a couple of years ago: http://cheesenbiscuits.blogspot.com/2009/12/innout-campaign.html

    He got the same automated response you did. I don't think it's a bad thing that they don't want to open here - some things are better left unexpanded...keep it small, let the family run their business the way they want to.

    We just need to support people here who are making genuinely great burgers, like Marcus of @anpburgers, The Meatwagon guys, Lucky Chip; even places like ThaT Burger which only lasted a few months but showed serious signs of promise.

    If In N Out ever does make it over to this side of the pond (or even beyond Texas...) then we'll all be super happy, of course, but until then we should just be encouraging people here to give the burger business a go and do our utmost to support them by spending our money.

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  4. Hey Nick, email sent :-) Lets hope we can get IN-N-OUT to realise the potential that London has!

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  5. Thanks for your comments Ibzo, I hadn't seen Chris Pople's post, but clearly their well oiled marketing machine is keeping the punters guessing almost two years on!

    I'm with you on the independents such as Marcus, Meatwagon and others - they're showing they can do it, enjoy it and produce great food that gets people talking.

    I, for one, will continue to munch my way through all the burgers London has to offer and if (I'd like to say when..) In-N-Out decide to join us in London I will spend some cash with them too!

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  6. Thanks Anthony - great stuff!

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  7. I'm afraid Ibzo is right, the response I received to my email when compared to yours seems to be a standard template they must send to all of these type of enquiries:

    Thank you for your e-mail and for your interest.

    In-N-Out Burger® is a privately held, family operated business which first opened in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948. As we continue to expand, we are always careful not to open a new location until we can guarantee the same quality food and service as we provide in our existing locations.

    Also, as plans for new locations are always subject to change, we are unable to confirm any site as a future In-N-Out Burger® until it is under construction. However, we can affirm that we plan on expanding as far as we can, and particularly into areas in which our customers have expressed interest. As such, we are happy to let our Real Estate Department know that you are anxious to have an In-N-Out Burger® location in the UK, specifically in London!

    Thank you again for contacting us.

    Sincerely,

    Andrea
    Customer Service

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  8. I LOVE IN-N-OUT BURGER, I dream of the day they will come to the UK. Love your blog :-)

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  9. Just found this blog. This weeks Finchley Times has an advert for a four our in and out pop up on vivian avenue hendon on 16th Oct.

    The logos are identical very confused

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  10. Seems they are doing a pop up shop for one day only in Hendon today

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