Anyone who’s loved a once-regional, chain restaurant knows expansion can bring complicated feelings. On one hand, you’re happy more people get to experience it, and that it might be more convenient to grab when traveling. On the other hand, the restaurant loses the sense of exclusivity that comes from eating food that can only be had at a particular place. According to Business Insider, the Cali-based burger chain has not strayed far from home because of a desire to maintain strict control over its supply chain of fresh ingredients. While the company is adding locations, everything must be done within driving distance of its two existing distribution centers (in Baldwin Park, California and Dallas, Texas), greatly limiting how fast In-N-Out can expand.
This is compounded by another choice In-N-Out has made about controlling the company: the lack of franchising. Allowing independent owners to open franchises is how many fast food companies expanded so quickly, including the most famous user of the franchise model, McDonalds. However, as Eater reports, franchising brings with it a host of problems, not the least of which is the drop in consistency from store-to-store, as operations get more separated from the main company and individual owners cut corners.
In-N-Out remains a family-owned business, and has maintained that franchising is off the table. So while East Coast burger lovers may be waiting a long time for an In-N-Out to open near them, they can take a little solace in knowing it’s for a good reason.
