In-N-Out Burger, Stacy Perman

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Substrat: humble simplicity; "Do one thing and do it the best you can"
- "We really have to have a place where people can get their sandwiches and go"
  - philosophy: quality, made-to-order hamburgers, customer is always king; company motto: "Quality You Can Taste"
- Harry invested in drag racing strip, served burgers there without (!) branding
menu: 3 burger items, french fries, soft drinks, lemonade, milkshakes
- fresh, high-quality product
  - cheese/ice cream 100% dairy; only use inner 4-5 tomato/onion slices, inner lettuce leaves
  - associates hand-peel potatoes, leaf lettuce by hand, bake sponge-dough buns daily
  - Harry drilled into his workers the singular importance of quality and simplicity.
    - salt shaken at shoulder length to ensure evenness; smile always; look customers in the eye
    - Rich started In-N-Out University to teach values in 1984
      - rule no. 1: "The customer is always right."
      - rule no. 2: "If in fact the customer was not right, refer to rule number one."
- rigorous quality control
  - only those tomatoes that fit five wide in a specially designed box were deemed the right size
  - employ their own butchers, run starch tests, etc.
  - Rich set up secret shoppers with complex orders to test store quality
- long-term, trust-based supplier relationships
  - dumped suppliers if quality was low or trust broken
  - when fire burned down warehouse, suppliers decided to deliver directly - out of loyalty
- no performance advertising
  - little PR, fastidiously private; don't share company numbers
  - TV & radio advertising that Rich introduced in 1977 only focused on product qualities
  - store openings: no advertising, small sign in parking lot "Coming Soon, In-N-Out Burger"
  - provided maps with store locations, bumper stickers
  - opened a mail order catalog & retail shop for company merch
- value associates
  - referred to employees as associates; new stores for associates to move up, not out
  - doled out ten dollar bonuses in the beginning (later, Christmas savings bonds)
  - Rich at bottom of inverted pyramid; managers had 'your stores', never: 'What store do you manage?'
  - Burger Television : monthly internal video format; Rich interviewed colleagues with BTC mic
  - The Bulletin: internal newsletter (initially 1-pager, later 8-page color glossy)
  - once a year, black tie gala; gave Harry Snyder award, named new managers, announced 100 Percent Club trips (reward managers who reached goals)
- slow growth
  - used cash for expansion, bought land underneath stores (Rich changed that later)
  - first warehouse, semitrailer and mobile cookout trailer in 1973 (~10 years after hiring first butcher)
  - in 1976 (28 years after first store), Harry died with only 18 stores
  - rest of industry: rapid franchise growth, quick-freeze cost-cutting measures, mass marketing
waves they rode: car ownership growth & build-out of interstate highways; fast food growth; Hollywood celebrities (unintentional, due to proximity)

Notes:

in 2005, an In-N-Out store brought in ~$1.79m, while McDonalds brought in ~$1.98m
fanatic fanbase: "until In-N-Out first arrived in Arizona, many residents flew roundtrip between Phoenix and the Ontario International airport in California expressly for a $2.75 hamburger."
opened first store in Baldwin Park in 1948 (25-cent hamburgers, 30-cent cheeseburgers, fifteen-cent french fries, 10-cent soft drinks)
- early motto: "NO DELAY"
- didn't even have indoor seating
- first day: sold 47 burgers; first month: 2,000 (~$1,100 revenues)
- from the start, Badwin Park's locals lined up
- second store in 1951 (3 more in 1952)
they do invitation-only, pre-opening parties that are final run-throughs
for store openings with a lot of demand, they set up additional mobile kitchens on-site & send in veteran employees ("In-N-Out All-Stars")
there is an inofficial, decades-old "secret menu" ("Animal Style", "Flying Dutchman", "4x4"; by now on the official homepage)
chain's radio jingle: 'In-N-Out, that's what a hamburger's all about'
Harry Snyder was born in 1913; in 1947, at 34, worked as a caterer selling boxed sandwiches to a cafeteria; met wife Esther (restaurant's manager) there
- shared simple, principled beliefs; Harry tough/demanding; Esther gentle/in the background
- never doubted her husband; "Anything he decided to do usually turned out well because he would work quite hard."
for more than 30 years, In-N-Out was run without any women except Esther
'the conversion': regulars brought first-timers