Overrated In-N-Out has the 'best burger in America' - and Californians should be ashamed
The site Ranker lists the California chain's burger as the best, beating Five Guys, Whataburger, and Steak 'N Shake.
But I have to wonder - why is this? In-N-Out makes a good burger, to be sure. It's flavorful, tasty, and fresh.
But I've had much better burgers. In fact, in a face-off I conducted, Shake Shack clearly beat out In-N-Out in the burger category. It wasn't even close.
So what is it that would keep me coming back to In-N-Out when there are objectively (in my mind) better options? It can come down to only one thing: psychology. Namely, the scarcity effect and the bandwagon effect. And the two are intertwined.
In-N-Out has plenty of locations, but its 313 restaurants are densely concentrated on the West Coast. This regional scarcity has played with the minds of burger fans and West Coast residents, realizing they can't get their precious burgers when they travel to other areas.
This has tricked them into thinking In-N-Out is somehow special because it is relatively rare.
Even if the actual product doesn't deserve the hype, more join the bandwagon without even realizing it, falling for the monster this hype has become. Things like the secret menu feed into this, creating a cult around the brand.
Californians should be embarrassed that they fell for this psychological trick hook, line, and sinker and have even gone as far as to integrate it into the regional identity.
There's no economic reason that In-N-Out can't expand faster than its current pace and beyond its current region. Plenty of other fast-food chains and restaurants have done so and maintained quality. It is just aware that it will loose some of the Cali cultural clout it has built up in its 67-year history.
Don't get me wrong: In-N-Out makes a good burger. But no burger can possibly live up to the hype surrounding In-N-Out.