In-N-Out’s Secret Menu: Why It’s Always On Our Mind

In-N-Out: the fabled fast food burger joint. Californians worship it and all others hear it as a myth. A revered burger that you have to try when you get close to one. It houses a daunting first time experience for one reason: the secret menu. There’s both an aura of mystery around the secret menu and a well-known quantity about it.

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On one hand, when you first go into an In-N-Out, it can be a lot to wrap your head around. The menu seems so simple, but why is everyone getting whacky burgers from the counter? How do I get those same burgers? Maybe you have a trusted friend who can act as your guide for the experience. They told you to go up and order your food by repeating back “4 by 4 animal style” to the cashier. Do you trust them or worry about looking like a fool in front of the nice employee? In-N-Out’s secret menu is one of life’s greatest mysteries.

Is it a secret if everyone knows about it?

Well that’s a damn good question. Thanks, Vinz. I was doing a little digging into the In-N-Out secret menu for a recent piece and came across another site. In-N-Out’s own website, to be exact. One where they freaking outline the entire secret menu in plain text. What’s the deal with that? In fact, I’d argue that this invalidates In-N-Out’s secret menu from even being a thing. Sure, it’s not published in store but if you as a corporation are admitting to its existence, then it’s not even a secret at all!

Why is it so popular?

I think it’s for two reasons: people want to be part of something exclusive and In-N-Out’s regular menu is just so plain it needs to be leveled up. It feels fun to go up and whisper your secret order to the cashier and for them to know what it means. You feel better than the peasants who got a regular cheeseburger and plainly cooked fries before you. I get that.

We also need to be honest with ourselves. In-N-Out’s menu is borrringggg. Every other fast food restaurant is coming up with menu items like a jalapeno ranch burger from Wendy’s or Grogu’s garlic fries at Burger King. In-N-Out’s has the same snooze-fest lineup for ages. Ordering a “Flying Dutchman” from In-N-Out by name is 1000% cooler than anything they have listed on the in-house menu.