In-N-Out Burger

In-N-Out Burgers has a rich history that has generated a loyal consumer base. Harry Snyder introduced California's first drive-thru hamburger stand in a space barely 10 feet square at Francisquito and Garvey in Baldwin Park (In-N-Out Burger, N.d. ). This entrepreneur would wake up every day before dawn and go to the meat and produce markets to pick out fresh ingredients that would be used in the burger preparation for that day.

The same strategy is still in use today as each location of the business receives their ingredients fresh in the morning for that day's estimated demand. The beef that they use to cook the burgers is never frozen and this improves the quality of the food that they serve. Analysis Part of In-N-Out's success is embedded into the simplicity of the operating model. The company only serves burgers, fries, and drinks which makes their product offering one of the simplest in the industry.

Most fast food franchises have expanded their menus significantly and their kitchens appear to be complicated arrangements of all kinds of different contraptions. However, In-N-Out still prepares food much like it did in the beginning. The company explains it this way (In-N-Out Burgers, N.d.): We make them from fresh, 100% pure beef. They are free of additives, fillers and preservatives of any kind. But the focus on quality starts well before we deliver our hamburger patties to our stores.

We own and operate our own patty-making facilities in Baldwin Park, California and Dallas, Texas. Since we only serve burgers, fries and drinks, making a high-quality hamburger patty is everything to us. It is not only the menu that is simplified. The ingredients are delivered from the company's internal distributors that have been acquired through vertical expansion. While other companies are trying to innovate with their product mix, In-N-Out has found balance in the exchange between customer satisfaction and operating complexity.

With its chain of about 200 restaurants throughout California, Arizona, and Nevada, the family-owned company expanded its sales by 9.2%, to $308 million, in 2003, a rate just about double the fast-food standard. Analysts estimate In-N-Out's margins at 20%, again supersized for the industry (Gofferdson & Aspinall, 2005). The trend in many industries is to focus on product "innovation" but in reality this often lends to complexities that are hard to manage and deter from customer satisfaction.

Managers aren't blind to the problem and nearly 70% admit that excessive complexity is raising their costs and hindering their profit growth, according to a 2005 Bain survey of more than 900 global executives (Gofferdson & Aspinall, 2005). Although innovation can help to drive a business model, the trend is to try to innovate for the sake of innovation and ignore the costs and the effects on the overall business model.

In-N-Out represents one of the company's that has excelled in their industry and maintain consistent growth by avoiding the temptation to continuously innovate with new products. Competitive Landscape In-N-Out competes with many other operations that target the same burger niche as well as other sources of food as well. For example, consumers may choose other diner options that are also convenient such as Subway or Panera's Bread if they are more health conscious.

However, in the burger niche, In-N-Out has developed a loyal consumer base in this segment and consistently wins quality awards for their products. One test that compared In-N-Out burgers against Five Guys and other competitors ranked In-N-Out number one. In review rates In-N-Out as follows (Lopez, In-N-Out vs. Five Guys vs. Shake Shack: The First Bi-Coastal Side-By-Side Taste Test, 2011): "The In-N-Out burger is really more about the Total Burger Experience -- the specific combination of ingredients, textures, atmosphere, and price.

It's the interplay of crisp lettuce and onions, juicy tomatoes, gooey cheese, salty meat, and tangy sweet sauce and pickles. This burger, more than any of the others, becomes greater than a sum of its parts and would suffer if any one of them were out of place. Luckily, In-N-Out excels at consistency and customer care." It is also interesting to note that despite the menu's relative simplicity, there is a plethora of ways to customize the hamburgers that they do serve.

One report actually investigate the so-called "secrete menu" of options that are available at In-N-Out locations which allows you a few custom options other than the regular hamburger, cheeseburger, fries, shakes, and Double-Double that appear on their printed menus (Lopez, The Ultimate In-N-Out Secret Menu (and Super Secret Menu!) Survival Guide, 2011). Atlanta Competition Red Robin Red Robin is a strong local competitor and maintains high quality standards.

Red Robin is named the winner of the Brand Image category for Full Service restaurants in Technomic's inaugural Chain Restaurant Consumers' Choice Awards which asked consumers to rate 115 restaurant chains on more than 60 different attributes ranging from the quality of the food to the overall brand reputation (Red Robin, N.d.). Farm Burger Farm burger was rated the best burger in Atlanta according to the website with the same name that focuses only on burgers (Bacon, K., 2014).

They attribute the burgers quality success to: 100% Grassfed Beef that is dry-aged and ground fresh. Their southeastern raised cows have.