In-N-Out Burger Has Officially Expanded to Washington State And People Have Lost Their Minds, Waiting 2+ Hours For a Fast Food Cheeseburger

Credit to In-N-Out burger if they actually managed to get customer through that line in only 2 hours. And even more credit to them for building such a strong brand in such a limited number of states, that when they expand to a new one, the state's entire population loses their fucking minds and suddenly believes waiting in line 2 hours for a fast food burger is a reasonable thing to do.

I love In-N-Out burger as much as anybody who loves In-N-Out burger. I used to live right across the street from one in Fort Worth, Texas. I was making multiple In-N-Out trips a week. Arguably, the greatest fast food restaurant location in all of the country is the In-N-Out Burger on the Las Vegas Strip. As prices across the United States (especially in Las Vegas) continue to skyrocket, the Las Vegas In-N-Out is still out there slinging double cheeseburgers for 6 bucks. 

For my money, In-N-Out is the best fast food burger chain going. My personal rankings are:

1. In-N-Out

2. Shake Shack

3. Culver's 

4. Five Guy's

5. Wendy's 

I might be forgetting something. Tommy's out in California, 7th Street Burger in NYC, and maybe even Swenson's in Ohio are better than all of those. But those places are too local to rank on that list. McDonald's burgers also seem like they're a whole different thing. I crave McDonald's burgers for different reasons than I crave other burgers, if that makes sense. I never got the hype about Whataburger. Rally's/Checkers is too inconsistent. I might have to give Carl's Jr. another shot. I've seen people claim Carl's Jr. has a great burger, but I don't think I've had one since I was a kid. But if I had to choose one fast food burger chain to have in my neighborhood, I'm going with In-N-Out

But my goodness, people. In-N-Out burger does not warrant the same amount of traffic as a Taylor Swift concert. I'm not sure there's anything in the world I'd wait 2 hours for anymore. As a kid I'd have waited 2 hours for a brand new roller coaster at Cedar Point. But today, it would have to be for something like an incredible price on tickets to a once in a lifetime sporting event. Or maybe I would wait 2 hours outside a club if I had inside information that like, the old Kanye West was going to be putting on a surprise concert. But two hours for a fast food cheeseburger... with all due respect, that's way too fat for my blood.

However, for In-N-Out Burger enjoyers east of the Mississippi, I have some good (and bad) news. The good news is that In-N-Out is expanding east. They are planning to open up 35 new locations. The bad news... all 35 locations will be in Tennessee.

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The Tennessean – The company’s expansion into Tennessee was first announced in 2023, when Snyder revealed the company's plans for a corporate headquarters in Franklin’s Berry Farms neighborhood. A total of 35 In-N-Out restaurants are planned for Tennessee, including locations in Hendersonville, Murfreesboro and Lebanon.

What is you obsession with states In-N-Out? Is that how opening restaurants works? You need to get approval from governors one at a time, and once you do the whole state is up for grabs? That's actually kind of a serious question. I really have no idea how that works. It just seems like it would make more sense for In-N-Out to spread their new restaurants out a little more than that. Unless In-N-Out's market research discovered that Tennessee is experiencing a severe shortage of cheeseburger options that I don't know about.

But I guess if opening a single In-N-Out burger in a new location means the entire fucking state is going to call off work to wait in line all afternoon, then maybe opening up 35 in one before moving onto the next is the responsible thing to do.