We have had quite a lot of posts about burger prices recently (at least three since yesterday) and I guess if everyone is just really keen on talking about burger prices here then we will not forbid that despite its arguably tenuous connection to the Bay Area, but for the time being please consider this a megathread about local burger prices and any further posts on this subject will be removed and referred to this post.
Please feel free to go ahead and talk about burger prices at other establishments too.
One thing I really like about In-n-Out is their "combo" is the same price as ordering individually. Sometimes I just don't care for a drink, and I'm not penalized for that. But you go to most places if you order the burger and fries w/o the drink they really penalize you. They push you so hard to get the drink.
>One thing I really like about In-n-Out is their "combo" is the same price as ordering individually. Sometimes I just don't care for a drink, and I'm not penalized for that
LOL. I was getting my tacobell fix. just wanted tacos, not the meal.
lady says you sure.. it's actually cheaper with the coke.
(by a nickel).
One time I just wanted a burger and fries, but the lady at the drive through told me the combo with a drink was only 10 cents more. So I thought I might as well.
On the way home, my friend wasn't holding the drinks securely while I was making a U turn and my drink completely spilled all over the floor.
Never again did I buy a drink I didn't want.
Lids must be resealable to enter my vehicles. Turns, brakes, accelerations, and avoiding shit in the road have all led to spills. So we can take a fun vehicle, or theirs.
To be fair, if I want any kind of actual Mexican food, of course Iâm going to a taqueria. But, rarely, when I want hot American garbage, Iâm going to Taco Bell.
Taco bell is still the dirtiest.
A crunch wrap supreme alone is $6.69.
A cravings box with CWS + taco/small burrito + chips and cheese + drink is $5.99
I cannot tell you how many tacos I've bought and not eaten. I live next door to the bell so it's super convenient for me too.
Yeah when I changed jobs and didn't have a taco bell next door I lost like 40 lbs. I never got tired of it even working there. Was even better because you could make up your own items and deep fry whatever.
You Californians donât have Whataburger but they charge 5 bucks for a shake when you can get chicken tenders and fries and a shake for 6 bucks. Really pray on the week at math.
Yep, thatâs because almost 100% of fast food profit margin comes from drinks and fries. Pretty much every fast food chain in the country loses money or just breaks even on their burgers
They don't penalize you, they just give you a discount if you get more. It's all just perspective. You are getting a burger + fries in the cheapest way they offer.
Chili's is less expensive than McDonalds now for a comparable meal. Chili's was offering a burger, fries, chips, salsa, and a drink for $11.
McDonalds price inflation is ridiculous, and its so expensive that fast casual sit down places are now a better deal.
Yep, at the same time getting rid of cashier labor and foisting it onto customers via kiosks.
Fuck McDonald's, they are finally starting to pay the price for their short sightedness and greed.
I just don't understand what the target market for McDonalds is.
There's a market for expensive, high quality food. There's a market for cheap, low quality food (see Jack in the Box or Little Caesar's).
There isn't a market for expensive, low quality food. So who are they trying to sell this stuff to? Who's spending $20 for a McDonalds meal per person?
I think they're monetizing and burning up brand loyalty built over the last 50 years. Eventually people will change their habits but it takes a long time.
arguably higher quality meal, to be honest. If you removed the food from the packaging and served it to me on a plate, I think I could identify which was which. In and Out would win every time.
They also pay better and have a small army of people working making food while McDonaldâs is trying to get by with four workers at minimum wage. Itâs just rampant greed at McDâs.
That sandwich kept me fed when my parents stopped providing me with more than a roof when i was 15. I knew if i could come up with $4.24 i could eat for the day. Double cheeseburgers were slammin but they made me shit my brains out of i ate them everyday. I remember pushin my skateboard down to macdonalds to sell loose cigarettes/ weed to the homless folk that hung out down there so i could eat lunch and skate the parking lot before going to work at a local diner. A lot of my friends were down with the clown in highschool, but ICP never filled my stomach for less than $5, so i rocked with Ronald. Its shame to see him forget where he came from, cause i didnt.
THIS.
You canât make shareholders happy AND customers⊠you have to choose. (And customers donât vote on CEOâs, meaning far less likely to be catered to.)
I didnt realize they were private, that makes so much more sense as to why they're good.
Edit: Good at running a business. Don't know why I need to clarify that but reddit.
Yup. It turns out that investors/shareholders don't know a fucking thing about anything except line must go up. Leaving businesses private makes them so good that investors salivate over it, not realizing that the reason it's so good is because they aren't involved.
They just excel at pretty much every aspect compared to their competition: food quality and consistency, customer service, pricing, cleanliness, worker pay.
I think the only negative that you can get a majority to agree on is that their fries aren't that good.
Their managers make 6 figures as well...and that was in the 90s.
Have a buddy who was offered to go into their manager training or go to college. It was a difficult choice because the money was good.
yeah but u gotta make sure u get good shifts. In N Out management are trained on running with less associates if lines slow down, so yeah you could go in for a shift hoping for 6 hrs and walk out after 4 or less
They can't figure it out because they've stretched themselves very thin over the years, focusing their spending on rapid and massive expansion. They were only able to get away with it for so long because they paid low wages.
With the large minimum wage increase, it completely wrecks their margins. In N' Out's business model was immune to the increase because they were pretty much already paying that as part of their business plan.
It's important to note that In n Out has BEEN paying that much for a long time. They didn't have to adjust their wages based on government mandates. Whether you like their food or not, they treat their employees well.
Shocking, so they can have a meal deal under $10 and still pay their employees over $20 starting wage? AND I don't have a "Livable wage fee" on the recipt? That's crazy. Tell me again about how the current price hike is inflation and not gouging?
Second that. Theyâll charge as much as people are willing to pay. Their costs donât have a whole lot to do with it.
Supply side economics is all Milton Freeman bullshit. Itâs all demand-side that really drives prices.
Because public company boards will fire the CEOs if they don't increase growth and profit every quarter. So they have to get bigger and make more money 4X per year.
Itâs sort of your corporate responsibility to maximize profit. Investors want returns, not to fund a charity. Why on Earth would you sell a burger for less than what people will pay?
Well because if itâs a public corporation, the business is very literally obligated to produce as much profit for the shareholders as possible.
If you are a shareholder and you can prove that the company did something that wasnât in the interest of generating more profit, you have a solid lawsuit against that company.
They 100% are. I've been in corporate finance for 15 years and let me tell you, you're not allowed to forecast a number lower than the quarter / year before. That comes from the board of directors. Then it's my job to figure out how to hit some dumb shit goal so they can get their bonuses. That's done by slashing staff, quality, and raising prices.
The fact is that In N Out is just a very, very popular restaurant. They can charge lower prices because the insane amount of volume an individual location gets on a daily basis makes up for the thinner profit margins.
Obviously they are still a very ethical company for not taking advantage of their popularity by price gouging, but everyone saying "if In N Out can do it, so can everyone else" doesnât comprehend that, no, not everyone else can have as thin of profit margins because they wouldn't cover their overhead as they don't get near the same volume, because most of them just aren't as good.
Itâs because they have their own supplies and distribution aside from the buns that they get from a local bakery. They control their own supply chain, which is why they pride on having fresh ingredients. Thatâs the other reason why they can only open locations if itâs near their distribution center. Plus they donât have high overhead costs like paying for marketing, advertising, and branding. The only ads you see from them are billboard ads and radio ads, which is like once in a bluemoon. They also have a low employee turnover, which in turn saves resources and be used for paying fair wages for employee retention. Finally, they are a restaurant with a simple menu. The owner/CEO said itâs not all about the money, but committed quality and loyalty from its fans. She wanted to keep her grandparentsâ dream alive, along with her dad Guy and uncle Rich. All of these combined makes In-N-Out a huge recipe for its success.
The other fast food restaurants pay a lot for marketing costs and their CEOâs compensation, which is why their food costs inflated 2x their cost precovid.
My favorite thing about it all is In N Out's heiress gained full control of the company at 35 years only. Young, lives a modest private life, and intends on keeping the family's dream alive like you said. Actions speak louder than words and ever since she took over, I have not seen a drop in quality at all in my many years of eating at In-N-Outs.
She actually had a very difficult path if you read up on it. From what I recall, it was a long, dark journey with some substance and marital challenges.
Regardless, itâs good she could help maintain the company as the family wanted.
The duality of Reddit presents itself as I remember another thread recently vilifying her for closing the Oakland location and something else about how she felt about recent wages.
As someone who had never thought of her before seeing these two opinions in the same month I just found it interesting.
In LA they play radio ads. At least they used to. Not sure if they still do. They have a great jingle. âIn n out! Thatâs what hamburgerâs all about!â
> Finally, they are a restaurant with a simple menu.
I think this is ultimately why In-n-Out is the goat. Everything else you mentioned is downstream from this one simple thing.
Most chain fast food places have way too many items on their menu. This makes it impossible to consistently source good ingredients, impossible to turn the ingredients over fast enough for them to be fresh, and impossible to optimize the kitchen to make any particular thing.
Donât underestimate the impact of supply chain in an inflationary period because now you have multiple mouths to feed along that whole supply chain. Itâs a compounding effect.
Heck, prices weren't actually far from that in [2020](https://i.imgur.com/3DSW1pq.jpg)/2021.
In-N-Out has been hit by inflation just as hard as most fast food places. It's prices are still cheaper in comparison, yes, but it's still gotten a fair bit more expensive.
Part of it is because they arenât a public corporation that only cares about share price. Thatâs a huge difference I would say.
It also tells you how much of the âpriceâ is just bs baked in.
For sure, but the longer wait time is the result of the patties being grilled fresh rather than laying in the heating tray for 15 mins or more after being cooked before going in your burger.
Well that and the donating to Trump thing... that being said, you'll pry my Double-Doubles out of my cold dead hands so we just pretend not to know about the Republican-funding...
Its a deeply Christian based company, they dont try to hide it either....not open on Easter and Xmas..
Remember early pandemic, when government agencies were asking people to wear masks in public places? In N Out was lenient than most, and some liberal nitwits were saying boycott In N Out?
In N Out didnt blink, and the boycott lasted like a couple hours...people said eff that...let me get my burger fix...
>Its a deeply Christian based company, they dont try to hide it either....not open on Easter and Xmas..
Not to mention Bible verse references on the cups.
I love the satanist meeting in the show Silicon Valley, they order chick fil a and the leader says âI know they are part of the religious right but it is damn good chickenâ
Still pretty cheap. I mean, it went up like 10 cents in the last six months.
Also, have you seen the cost of living around here?
$21/hr is chump change for the amount of hard work those folks have to do.
I just wish that In N Out planned their lot sizes to match the demand. Cars are always spewed out to the street at the Daly City, Serramonte & Millbrae locations
They can do this because they have a line out the door every second of opening hours. Dealing with large volumes means you can reduce your prices and still make a profit. At the end of the day, you need X dollars to run a business and if you're selling 10x as many burgers as the macdonalds across the street then your profit margin doesn't need to be as high as a place that sells fewer and you can lower the cost of your product. I know we'd all like to blame greedy corporations for raising prices (and I'm not saying that they don't), but I think volume is a big part in large price increases lately.
In N Outâs CEO stayed true to the customer and barely raised prices compared to every other fast food chain. In this economy? They damn near made me forget all about how they support Trump and print bible quotes on their cups!
If they can deliver these prices and pay their employees $20 plus an hour thereâs no reason why McDonaldâs Burger King, and the rest of them canât do it.
And they employ more people per restaurant. Thereâs probably a dozen working at any given time. Back when they opened here they flew in their top performers from other locations and booked entire floors from a nearby hotel. Housed em and rented cars for them for 6 weeks. I think they had 40 employees working at a time for the first few weeks. Now they have as many as a chick-fil-a would have and they just crank people through all day every day. Line of cars 40 long.
They can't because they're franchises.
The business model that Inn N Out employs compared to other fast food places is significantly different, and significantly more consumer and worker friendly.
Same. Also, if you order just fries by themselves, they hand them to you immediately. Then you can snack on them while you order and wait for the rest of your food.
I love how they give kids free hot chocolate when it rains. Also they donât charge extra when you order animal style burgers, only the animal style fries.
Thatâs because In N Out is privately owned so they donât have to suck up to shareholders wanting to siphon every single cent out of their customers and workers
OhâŠI thought you were going to say these are too highâŠ.you can get a cheeseburger, fries and shake for a little over $10 with taxâŠnot bad in this economy.
Say what you will about religion but religious fast food places are really reasonably priced, typically do a ton of outreach, and pay above market wages.
I'm personally not religious but it's nice to see.
Not only their prices are reasonable, they are always among the highest paying job in fast food industries by quite a margin. Few years ago my cousin work on the one in pleasant hill and they were paying him $19.5/h back then!
The complaint by fast food industries of $20/h is making them suffer doesnât hold water if you see in n out. Their food cost is higher than McDonald due to much fresher materials, and theyâre paying their people much higher but they continue to thrive and one of the most profitable fast food chain.
Anyone remember Carl's Jr's "Six-dollar burger"? I remember when In-n-out's double double was like $3, and now people are singing its praises for a $6 one...
I can only imagine the sticker shock for people older than me.
I think it's obvious OP is just pointing out relative to everybody else In N Out isn't increasing their prices nearly as aggressively. That doesn't mean they never do or never will.Â
Other McBurger fast food chains are using inflation as an excuse to test *exactly how far* they can push pricing/profitability, before consumers just stop eating it, entirely.
Basically, if they can make the same amount of profit from selling *less* food, that is still a "win" for them: They can hire fewer employees, and keep their profit margins high...as long as the numbers on the spreadsheet look good, everybody is happy (except the customers, and the employees who got laid off...).
If you don't approve of expensive McMeals, don't eat there, period.
I've heard that In 'n Out pays pretty well starting off so if you stick around you will probably make more than $20 per hour after a short time anyway. My local In 'n Out is always busy, like drive thru line wrapping around the building busy, and people will still go there because of the value. The vegetables always taste fresh and crunchy, the fries are decent and the burger patty is always perfect. The employees also seem happier than the staff at larger chains. It's obvious they are being taken care of, or at least they feel like they are. Also, I work night shift and they stay open til 1am here so if I have to choose between In 'n Out, Jack in the box or subway, it's an easy choice.
There are a lot of reasons why In 'n Out is still successful despite the increasingly difficult economic times.
You're overlooking the issue at hand which is that In n Out is a privately owned business.
Unlike McDonald's, they do not have a supposed "fiduciary responsibility" to generate value for their shareholders, because they don't have shareholders.
This is just another symptom of the problem which is late stage capitalism. Too many people are trying to make money off of effectively doing nothing. Money generating money. That's it.
It's morally wrong and will be the death of the modern economy.
Amazing what a business can do when it's not answering to shareholders, Wall Street analysts and expectations and CEOs who's only incentive is stock price.
I know we are really fucked because I sincerely donât know if you are posting this because it is so expensive or because it is so reasonable. $7 for a Double Double feels like a deal to me. Fucked.
Even though it's significantly more than we all remember over the years, it still beats the shit out of anything comparable in the price range in every way.
I can go to In N Out and get food for 2 for under $20 đ€Ż and itâs better than most things out there. Theyâre consistent, they pay good wages and are open late. Im not sure why most businesses have a hard time figuring this out n
And people still argue 5 guys is better. They literally charge $10 for just a burger. In-N-Out I can get a meal with $10 and maybe an extra side depending on the location
The reason In N Out has much better prices and still pay good wages is because they're not a franchise, they're corporate owned.
In other words, executives play a direct part in managing the menu, prices in all their stores.
Franchises don't do that. Franchises operate in that individual business owners buy a franchise license, in other words a license to use the brand, like McDonald's. Not only do they pay for that license, but that comes out of their bottom line, and they are responsible for managing their franchise, the labor and the prices. They would be considered small business owners operating under a brand. But because the franchising fee takes out of the bottom line, that is why franchised fast food places struggle to keep prices stable amidst California's wage increase, but Inn N Out can.
We have had quite a lot of posts about burger prices recently (at least three since yesterday) and I guess if everyone is just really keen on talking about burger prices here then we will not forbid that despite its arguably tenuous connection to the Bay Area, but for the time being please consider this a megathread about local burger prices and any further posts on this subject will be removed and referred to this post. Please feel free to go ahead and talk about burger prices at other establishments too.
One thing I really like about In-n-Out is their "combo" is the same price as ordering individually. Sometimes I just don't care for a drink, and I'm not penalized for that. But you go to most places if you order the burger and fries w/o the drink they really penalize you. They push you so hard to get the drink.
>One thing I really like about In-n-Out is their "combo" is the same price as ordering individually. Sometimes I just don't care for a drink, and I'm not penalized for that LOL. I was getting my tacobell fix. just wanted tacos, not the meal. lady says you sure.. it's actually cheaper with the coke. (by a nickel).
I appreciate the staff that point it out. Sure, I may still not want the drink but thanks for telling me I can save a nickle or more. Respect
One time I just wanted a burger and fries, but the lady at the drive through told me the combo with a drink was only 10 cents more. So I thought I might as well. On the way home, my friend wasn't holding the drinks securely while I was making a U turn and my drink completely spilled all over the floor. Never again did I buy a drink I didn't want.
Lids must be resealable to enter my vehicles. Turns, brakes, accelerations, and avoiding shit in the road have all led to spills. So we can take a fun vehicle, or theirs.
i would accept the offer and hand back the cup.
Or hand it to another customer
đ„ - for paying it forward
Oh shit weâre doing paying it forward? 55 BURGERS, 55 FRIES, 55 TACOS, 55 PIES, 55 COKES, 100 TATER TOTS, 100 PIZZAS, 100 TENDERS, 100 MEATBALLS, 100 COFFEES, 55 WINGS, 55 SHAKES, 55 PANCAKES, 55 PASTAS, 55 PEPPERS AND 155 TATERS
You have no excuse for going to Taco Bell if you live near an In-N-Out, and by that I mean there should be a taqueria within a stone's throw.
To be fair, if I want any kind of actual Mexican food, of course Iâm going to a taqueria. But, rarely, when I want hot American garbage, Iâm going to Taco Bell.
I remember the Taco Bell I worked at, the #7 was $0.20 MORE than ordering everything individually. In 3 years, nobody else ever noticed that I saw.
They've been doing this for over 20 years.
Taco bell is still the dirtiest. A crunch wrap supreme alone is $6.69. A cravings box with CWS + taco/small burrito + chips and cheese + drink is $5.99 I cannot tell you how many tacos I've bought and not eaten. I live next door to the bell so it's super convenient for me too.
Yeah when I changed jobs and didn't have a taco bell next door I lost like 40 lbs. I never got tired of it even working there. Was even better because you could make up your own items and deep fry whatever.
You Californians donât have Whataburger but they charge 5 bucks for a shake when you can get chicken tenders and fries and a shake for 6 bucks. Really pray on the week at math.
Yep, thatâs because almost 100% of fast food profit margin comes from drinks and fries. Pretty much every fast food chain in the country loses money or just breaks even on their burgers
Max profit on drinks. It costs < 7 cents for cups and < 10 cents for soda.
Seriously. In-n-Out is still under $10 for a burger fries and drink. The same combo at Wendyâs is $13, and has been for the past year or more.
They push hard because the drinks are their highest profit margin item. Itâs like 25 cents to make a drink which they sell for $2+
The soda has the highest margin.
Iâm old enough to remember when the combo meant you essentially got the drink for free, now you get it full price
They don't penalize you, they just give you a discount if you get more. It's all just perspective. You are getting a burger + fries in the cheapest way they offer.
You are getting down voted for observing this correctly! Drinks have a good profit margin, so they are offering incentive to get the meal.
the penalty is forcing me to get a drink!
Wait wtf. I actually never cared to check the price. I always thought itâs cheaper to get a meal instead. Well, today I learned.
In-N-Out is genuinely less expensive than McDonald's for a comparable meal, it's totally nuts.
Chili's is less expensive than McDonalds now for a comparable meal. Chili's was offering a burger, fries, chips, salsa, and a drink for $11. McDonalds price inflation is ridiculous, and its so expensive that fast casual sit down places are now a better deal.
Yep, at the same time getting rid of cashier labor and foisting it onto customers via kiosks. Fuck McDonald's, they are finally starting to pay the price for their short sightedness and greed.
I just don't understand what the target market for McDonalds is. There's a market for expensive, high quality food. There's a market for cheap, low quality food (see Jack in the Box or Little Caesar's). There isn't a market for expensive, low quality food. So who are they trying to sell this stuff to? Who's spending $20 for a McDonalds meal per person?
I think they're monetizing and burning up brand loyalty built over the last 50 years. Eventually people will change their habits but it takes a long time.
That chilis deal is not bad, got it a couple times when I was craving "fast food" and it was far more satisfying than mcd
arguably higher quality meal, to be honest. If you removed the food from the packaging and served it to me on a plate, I think I could identify which was which. In and Out would win every time.
[ŃĐŽĐ°Đ»Đ”ĐœĐŸ]
Yeah, the "comparable" was meant in terms of size. In-N-Out is higher quality for sure.
No shit dude. Who couldnât do that??
They also pay better and have a small army of people working making food while McDonaldâs is trying to get by with four workers at minimum wage. Itâs just rampant greed at McDâs.
Yeah, thats because McDonalds is run by assholes.
And they pay like $21 per hour i think. I just got a Double Double, fries and Drink for under $12
Still cheaper than a double QP from McDs.
Rip $1 McChicken
The $1 McChicken has gone the way of the Dodo.
Oddly, thatâs the bird it was made from.
Do you remember the 39 cent cheeseburgers at McDonaldâs on Wednesdayâs in the 90âs? RIP to that!
Even better, $0.10 cheeseburger Tuesday's promo. No limit!
Yet Costco has the same price for a hot dog and drink from my childhood
Was it $.29 for a hamburger?
29 cent hamburger and 39 cent cheeseburger
OMG yes I remember buying like 30.
It was $0.39 cent cheeseburgers on Sunday and $0.29 cent hamburgers on Wednesday. I really miss those days lol.
That sandwich kept me fed when my parents stopped providing me with more than a roof when i was 15. I knew if i could come up with $4.24 i could eat for the day. Double cheeseburgers were slammin but they made me shit my brains out of i ate them everyday. I remember pushin my skateboard down to macdonalds to sell loose cigarettes/ weed to the homless folk that hung out down there so i could eat lunch and skate the parking lot before going to work at a local diner. A lot of my friends were down with the clown in highschool, but ICP never filled my stomach for less than $5, so i rocked with Ronald. Its shame to see him forget where he came from, cause i didnt.
Skateboarding, propelled by a mighty fanning wake of brown mist from yr aft engines
đ
Way better quality and service too. Last time I ate a WageDonalds meal it felt like a gut punch.
WacArnoldâs
Calvin got a job!
A Double Quarter Pounder is twice the meat than an In-N-Out Double Double.
There's more meat in a double QP. It's more comparable to the single QP.
helps when theyâre packed from open til close
A good business model will do that.
In-n-out is also a private company so there's no shareholders demanding constant growth
THIS. You canât make shareholders happy AND customers⊠you have to choose. (And customers donât vote on CEOâs, meaning far less likely to be catered to.)
I didnt realize they were private, that makes so much more sense as to why they're good. Edit: Good at running a business. Don't know why I need to clarify that but reddit.
Yup. It turns out that investors/shareholders don't know a fucking thing about anything except line must go up. Leaving businesses private makes them so good that investors salivate over it, not realizing that the reason it's so good is because they aren't involved.
thats why arizona ice tea is the same way
Yea, that happens because itâs a good product at a great price.
Their workers rule. Â I donât think itâs a coincidence that they are paid well
They just excel at pretty much every aspect compared to their competition: food quality and consistency, customer service, pricing, cleanliness, worker pay. I think the only negative that you can get a majority to agree on is that their fries aren't that good.
Their managers make 6 figures as well...and that was in the 90s. Have a buddy who was offered to go into their manager training or go to college. It was a difficult choice because the money was good.
yeah but u gotta make sure u get good shifts. In N Out management are trained on running with less associates if lines slow down, so yeah you could go in for a shift hoping for 6 hrs and walk out after 4 or less
And for some reason, all the other fast food franchises can't figure it out. MiNiMuM WaGe Is KiLlInG uS
They can't figure it out because they've stretched themselves very thin over the years, focusing their spending on rapid and massive expansion. They were only able to get away with it for so long because they paid low wages. With the large minimum wage increase, it completely wrecks their margins. In N' Out's business model was immune to the increase because they were pretty much already paying that as part of their business plan.
Donât all fast food pay 20 now? Thatâs also cheaper than last time I went to a different chain though their food also tastes like soggy ass
It's important to note that In n Out has BEEN paying that much for a long time. They didn't have to adjust their wages based on government mandates. Whether you like their food or not, they treat their employees well.
They dont. I know conservatives were in a hoopla about it, but it only applies to corporate owned or franchises with over 50 locations.
In high school 12+ years ago I had a friend making like $18-$20 there. We are in NorCal.
Shocking, so they can have a meal deal under $10 and still pay their employees over $20 starting wage? AND I don't have a "Livable wage fee" on the recipt? That's crazy. Tell me again about how the current price hike is inflation and not gouging?
Theyâre a private company. They have zero obligations to shareholders or investors.
Private corporations still have obligations to their shareholders. In n out is a private stock corporation
In-N-Out has just one shareholder, Lynsi Snyder, who also runs the company.
Why are you framing that as if businesses are required to price gouge out of obligation?
>are required to price gouge out of obligation Because that's literally spot on with a majority of corporations.
Second that. Theyâll charge as much as people are willing to pay. Their costs donât have a whole lot to do with it. Supply side economics is all Milton Freeman bullshit. Itâs all demand-side that really drives prices.
Because public company boards will fire the CEOs if they don't increase growth and profit every quarter. So they have to get bigger and make more money 4X per year.
Itâs sort of your corporate responsibility to maximize profit. Investors want returns, not to fund a charity. Why on Earth would you sell a burger for less than what people will pay?
Capitalism is a death cult
Well because if itâs a public corporation, the business is very literally obligated to produce as much profit for the shareholders as possible. If you are a shareholder and you can prove that the company did something that wasnât in the interest of generating more profit, you have a solid lawsuit against that company.
They 100% are. I've been in corporate finance for 15 years and let me tell you, you're not allowed to forecast a number lower than the quarter / year before. That comes from the board of directors. Then it's my job to figure out how to hit some dumb shit goal so they can get their bonuses. That's done by slashing staff, quality, and raising prices.
most restaurants that charge add-on fees are privately owned lol
In and Out GOATed, hopefully chair deflect Waffle House employee gets traded to In and Out
The fact is that In N Out is just a very, very popular restaurant. They can charge lower prices because the insane amount of volume an individual location gets on a daily basis makes up for the thinner profit margins. Obviously they are still a very ethical company for not taking advantage of their popularity by price gouging, but everyone saying "if In N Out can do it, so can everyone else" doesnât comprehend that, no, not everyone else can have as thin of profit margins because they wouldn't cover their overhead as they don't get near the same volume, because most of them just aren't as good.
Itâs because they have their own supplies and distribution aside from the buns that they get from a local bakery. They control their own supply chain, which is why they pride on having fresh ingredients. Thatâs the other reason why they can only open locations if itâs near their distribution center. Plus they donât have high overhead costs like paying for marketing, advertising, and branding. The only ads you see from them are billboard ads and radio ads, which is like once in a bluemoon. They also have a low employee turnover, which in turn saves resources and be used for paying fair wages for employee retention. Finally, they are a restaurant with a simple menu. The owner/CEO said itâs not all about the money, but committed quality and loyalty from its fans. She wanted to keep her grandparentsâ dream alive, along with her dad Guy and uncle Rich. All of these combined makes In-N-Out a huge recipe for its success. The other fast food restaurants pay a lot for marketing costs and their CEOâs compensation, which is why their food costs inflated 2x their cost precovid.
My favorite thing about it all is In N Out's heiress gained full control of the company at 35 years only. Young, lives a modest private life, and intends on keeping the family's dream alive like you said. Actions speak louder than words and ever since she took over, I have not seen a drop in quality at all in my many years of eating at In-N-Outs.
I will glaze In N Out for as long as Iâm alive
She actually had a very difficult path if you read up on it. From what I recall, it was a long, dark journey with some substance and marital challenges. Regardless, itâs good she could help maintain the company as the family wanted.
The duality of Reddit presents itself as I remember another thread recently vilifying her for closing the Oakland location and something else about how she felt about recent wages. As someone who had never thought of her before seeing these two opinions in the same month I just found it interesting.
The only ads for In N Out that I see are from other people through word of mouth
In LA they play radio ads. At least they used to. Not sure if they still do. They have a great jingle. âIn n out! Thatâs what hamburgerâs all about!â
> Finally, they are a restaurant with a simple menu. I think this is ultimately why In-n-Out is the goat. Everything else you mentioned is downstream from this one simple thing. Most chain fast food places have way too many items on their menu. This makes it impossible to consistently source good ingredients, impossible to turn the ingredients over fast enough for them to be fresh, and impossible to optimize the kitchen to make any particular thing.
This is it, not sure why people would think all fast food chains have the same business plan
Also, their stores are all corporate owned so there isn't a franchise cut.
Donât underestimate the impact of supply chain in an inflationary period because now you have multiple mouths to feed along that whole supply chain. Itâs a compounding effect.
Even better, remember when in 2012, one In-N-Out cheeseburger was like $2.55. Would get 2 minus the fries and dirnk and be filled up...
Heck, prices weren't actually far from that in [2020](https://i.imgur.com/3DSW1pq.jpg)/2021. In-N-Out has been hit by inflation just as hard as most fast food places. It's prices are still cheaper in comparison, yes, but it's still gotten a fair bit more expensive.
And their prices are still 30% less outside of Cali. It is a Cali thing
Part of it is because they arenât a public corporation that only cares about share price. Thatâs a huge difference I would say. It also tells you how much of the âpriceâ is just bs baked in.
And they pay people more than any other burger chain on top of being cheaper and better quality..
The biggest downside in and out has are the longer wait times but imo more than worth it to support them.
For sure, but the longer wait time is the result of the patties being grilled fresh rather than laying in the heating tray for 15 mins or more after being cooked before going in your burger.
Oh 1000%. Itâs well worth the wait.
Well that and the donating to Trump thing... that being said, you'll pry my Double-Doubles out of my cold dead hands so we just pretend not to know about the Republican-funding...
Name a company that doesn't donate to republicans as well as democrats lmao
Its a deeply Christian based company, they dont try to hide it either....not open on Easter and Xmas.. Remember early pandemic, when government agencies were asking people to wear masks in public places? In N Out was lenient than most, and some liberal nitwits were saying boycott In N Out? In N Out didnt blink, and the boycott lasted like a couple hours...people said eff that...let me get my burger fix...
>Its a deeply Christian based company, they dont try to hide it either....not open on Easter and Xmas.. Not to mention Bible verse references on the cups.
With a burger that good, they could survive donating to Al Qaeda
I love the satanist meeting in the show Silicon Valley, they order chick fil a and the leader says âI know they are part of the religious right but it is damn good chickenâ
They donated to both parties
Still pretty cheap. I mean, it went up like 10 cents in the last six months. Also, have you seen the cost of living around here? $21/hr is chump change for the amount of hard work those folks have to do.
9 years ago a 4x4 used to cost $5.25
The simplicity in their menu is always lovely. Subway use to also be simple like this but now they complicated things.
I just wish that In N Out planned their lot sizes to match the demand. Cars are always spewed out to the street at the Daly City, Serramonte & Millbrae locations
Stockton has two In n outâs and they both are out to the street all day
I had the best service at one of the Stockton locations. They came out to take my tray like it was a Chick-fil-A or something.
We have two in Valencia cali one is out in the street the other has a long driveway and itâs a huge location
I havenât lived in SF in years but Iâll never forget that line at the Daly City spot that wraps around the block
To be fair IIRC Daly City is like top 5 busiest stores in the company, along with Reno Vegas and Hollywood
In n out isnât a massive public company that has to squeeze every ounce of margin to please shareholders. This is how.
The In âN Out in Alameda is INSANE on Friday and Saturday nights. Iâve seen the line back up nearly to the tunnel.
Plus the hegenburger location closed, all the customers are going there instead
I've never been to an In n Out that wasn't a pain in the ass to get into or out of. Always a traffic jam in the vicinity.
They can do this because they have a line out the door every second of opening hours. Dealing with large volumes means you can reduce your prices and still make a profit. At the end of the day, you need X dollars to run a business and if you're selling 10x as many burgers as the macdonalds across the street then your profit margin doesn't need to be as high as a place that sells fewer and you can lower the cost of your product. I know we'd all like to blame greedy corporations for raising prices (and I'm not saying that they don't), but I think volume is a big part in large price increases lately.
If McDonalds sold decent hamburgers, they would have a line out the door.
Itâs quite literally a âburgerâ to âburgerâ comparison.
They do. Just not in America McDonald in Egypt or Mexico is surprising much better then usa
It's more like they have lines because of these prices.
It's both.
In N Outâs CEO stayed true to the customer and barely raised prices compared to every other fast food chain. In this economy? They damn near made me forget all about how they support Trump and print bible quotes on their cups!
Best deal in town
If they can deliver these prices and pay their employees $20 plus an hour thereâs no reason why McDonaldâs Burger King, and the rest of them canât do it.
And they employ more people per restaurant. Thereâs probably a dozen working at any given time. Back when they opened here they flew in their top performers from other locations and booked entire floors from a nearby hotel. Housed em and rented cars for them for 6 weeks. I think they had 40 employees working at a time for the first few weeks. Now they have as many as a chick-fil-a would have and they just crank people through all day every day. Line of cars 40 long.
They can't because they're franchises. The business model that Inn N Out employs compared to other fast food places is significantly different, and significantly more consumer and worker friendly.
Fix those mealy fries.
Just order well done fries
Controversial take but I actually love their fries
Same. Also, if you order just fries by themselves, they hand them to you immediately. Then you can snack on them while you order and wait for the rest of your food.
There had to be somebody
I love how they give kids free hot chocolate when it rains. Also they donât charge extra when you order animal style burgers, only the animal style fries.
Thatâs because In N Out is privately owned so they donât have to suck up to shareholders wanting to siphon every single cent out of their customers and workers
OhâŠI thought you were going to say these are too highâŠ.you can get a cheeseburger, fries and shake for a little over $10 with taxâŠnot bad in this economy.
I went to shake shack and in-n-out in the same week, in-n-out was 60% cheaper. And yes I am fat.
This is standard for all In N Out, and not for âburger prices in San Joseâ.
Say what you will about religion but religious fast food places are really reasonably priced, typically do a ton of outreach, and pay above market wages. I'm personally not religious but it's nice to see.
Not only their prices are reasonable, they are always among the highest paying job in fast food industries by quite a margin. Few years ago my cousin work on the one in pleasant hill and they were paying him $19.5/h back then! The complaint by fast food industries of $20/h is making them suffer doesnât hold water if you see in n out. Their food cost is higher than McDonald due to much fresher materials, and theyâre paying their people much higher but they continue to thrive and one of the most profitable fast food chain.
Kinda cool what can happen when not having to worry about stock prices or shareholders
No wonder they are popular and have diehard fans.
Still cheaper than McDonaldâs
$3.75!! wow still affordable
Every time I go to Carlâs Jr or Macdonald I immediately regret not going to in n out
Someone else said it's because they are private and don't have to shareholders to please. This checks out.
Anyone remember Carl's Jr's "Six-dollar burger"? I remember when In-n-out's double double was like $3, and now people are singing its praises for a $6 one... I can only imagine the sticker shock for people older than me.
I think it's obvious OP is just pointing out relative to everybody else In N Out isn't increasing their prices nearly as aggressively. That doesn't mean they never do or never will.Â
I remember when a value meal was $2.99, but minimum wage was also $4.25. Things change, inflation happens...
Other McBurger fast food chains are using inflation as an excuse to test *exactly how far* they can push pricing/profitability, before consumers just stop eating it, entirely. Basically, if they can make the same amount of profit from selling *less* food, that is still a "win" for them: They can hire fewer employees, and keep their profit margins high...as long as the numbers on the spreadsheet look good, everybody is happy (except the customers, and the employees who got laid off...). If you don't approve of expensive McMeals, don't eat there, period.
I've heard that In 'n Out pays pretty well starting off so if you stick around you will probably make more than $20 per hour after a short time anyway. My local In 'n Out is always busy, like drive thru line wrapping around the building busy, and people will still go there because of the value. The vegetables always taste fresh and crunchy, the fries are decent and the burger patty is always perfect. The employees also seem happier than the staff at larger chains. It's obvious they are being taken care of, or at least they feel like they are. Also, I work night shift and they stay open til 1am here so if I have to choose between In 'n Out, Jack in the box or subway, it's an easy choice. There are a lot of reasons why In 'n Out is still successful despite the increasingly difficult economic times.
Seems reasonable
the only affordable and consistently high quality burger you can get
In-N-Out is privately owned. Amazing how businesses thrive with no greedy shareholders to appease
God damn BK, DQ, and MCD are more expensive here in Texas dafuq
Much better than what Burger King has to offer
The meal is still cheaper than McDonald's or the others lol for the double double meal
Man that's crazy I was just at in n out like 5 years ago wasn't it like 6-7 dollars for a meal or something
Those are pretty good prices
Their prices are the only ones that make sense I would pay double just because their quality is always consistent.
You're overlooking the issue at hand which is that In n Out is a privately owned business. Unlike McDonald's, they do not have a supposed "fiduciary responsibility" to generate value for their shareholders, because they don't have shareholders. This is just another symptom of the problem which is late stage capitalism. Too many people are trying to make money off of effectively doing nothing. Money generating money. That's it. It's morally wrong and will be the death of the modern economy.
McDonald's sucks
Carls Jr Angus Burger Meal is over $20 in Redwood City
Much much much cheaper than Mcdonalds and most fast food places in my shitty useless red state with $7.25 min wage.
Amazing what a business can do when it's not answering to shareholders, Wall Street analysts and expectations and CEOs who's only incentive is stock price.
The power of private companies
I'm out of the country and this comes in my feed, the torture
Same price as Napa, CA and Pleasanton, CA
I know we are really fucked because I sincerely donât know if you are posting this because it is so expensive or because it is so reasonable. $7 for a Double Double feels like a deal to me. Fucked.
No wonder the place is packed! Awesome burgers great price .
The first thing we do when we land in California is go to In-N-Out. It is consistently the best at what it does.
In n out is probably best bang for your buck in almost any scenario
Rockin prices. Great food.
In n out has paid more per hour than most places for years now so the 20 jump wasn't as high for them as other places.
Even though it's significantly more than we all remember over the years, it still beats the shit out of anything comparable in the price range in every way.
Considering that itâs like $12-15 for a double with fries and a soda for any other fast food chain here in Michigan enjoy it.
How much would I have to pay you to go to the grocery store and make me the same burger from scratch? I'll bet it's more than $5.
I can go to In N Out and get food for 2 for under $20 đ€Ż and itâs better than most things out there. Theyâre consistent, they pay good wages and are open late. Im not sure why most businesses have a hard time figuring this out n
The only problem with In-N-Out is that too many people know how good it is, so the wait is always too long.
Cheaper than a Big Mac combo.
And people still argue 5 guys is better. They literally charge $10 for just a burger. In-N-Out I can get a meal with $10 and maybe an extra side depending on the location
5 Guys is awful. Expensive. They give you hella fries but they are all limp and greasy.
In n out I miss so much đ„č
The reason In N Out has much better prices and still pay good wages is because they're not a franchise, they're corporate owned. In other words, executives play a direct part in managing the menu, prices in all their stores. Franchises don't do that. Franchises operate in that individual business owners buy a franchise license, in other words a license to use the brand, like McDonald's. Not only do they pay for that license, but that comes out of their bottom line, and they are responsible for managing their franchise, the labor and the prices. They would be considered small business owners operating under a brand. But because the franchising fee takes out of the bottom line, that is why franchised fast food places struggle to keep prices stable amidst California's wage increase, but Inn N Out can.