IN-N-OUT BURGER – A Behind The Counter Look at the Fast Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules, by Stacy Perman – A Review by Bill Dahl

Scrumptious Literary Fare!!!

It’s a unique experience to read a book and actually have tastes and smells populate your being. Admittedly, one would have to have dined at IN-N-OUT (as I have – repeatedly) to experience what I did during the digestion of this volume.

Stacy Perman is a superb investigative journalist having spent time at BusinessWeek, Time, The WSJ, L.A. Mag, and the L.A. Times. She is also the author of Spies, Inc.: Business Innovation from Israel’s Master’s of Espionage. Interestingly enough, she produced this work without the opportunity to interview any living member of the Snyder family or current corporate executives (she asked – they declined to participate). Perman’s father treated her to IN-N-OUT during her childhood at the Woodland Hills, CA store.

Their philosophy was simple – the product – if it’s a good one – should sell itself, and everything else is smoke and mirrors.” (p.93) According to former CFO Steve Tanner, “If you have to tell somebody you’re something, you’re probably not.” (p. 153 – although I think Steve stole and re-phrased former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s famous remark). The jingle “IN-N-OUT, IN-N-OUT – that’s what a hamburger’s all about,” represents both the simplicity and the laser-focus on “Quality You Can Taste.”

In many ways, this is the story of the UN-conventional company: Stay small, privately held (and militant about staying that way), customer satisfaction, cleanliness, fresh ingredients, the best ingredients, overpay your employees, let the product be your most precious marketing tool, spend little on advertising (vis-à-vis competitors), slow growth, work hard, very limited menu, be price sensitive, do nothing to compromise quality or front-line employee morale, NEVER franchise, ignore what your competitors are doing (including “industry trends”), and don’t take anything for granted.

The history of the company is absolutely fascinating yet, heartbreaking.  Yet, like the story of any company’s survival – IN-N-OUT has survived multiple tragedies.

Eating at IN-N-OUT will never be the same for me after reading this book. It only enhanced my appetite for “more of the same” – primarily due to the respect I derived for the founders, Harry and Esther Snyder – as well as the yeoman’s job Stacy Perman completed in penning this magnificent treatise about an ongoing, authentic American cultural icon.

You’ll love it! I certainly did!!!

 

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