Houston burger fans, In-N-Out wants to pack your meat in Fort Worth. No, the California-based burger chain hasn’t announced any Houston locations yet, but clearly they’re on the radar: Only a few months after opening its first Texas location, In-N-Out is asking the city of Fort Worth to lower city taxes by $840,000 over 10 years so it can build a regional distribution center and meatpacking facility near DFW “that would support expansion across Texas and possibly into neighboring states.”
- In-N-Out Burger seeks abatement for regional distribution center [Star-Telegram, via Eater Houston]
Photo: Mike E. Perez
do not want.
lower your taxes, animal-style
Love me an in-and-out burger, but my feelings toward them are so deeply connected to memories of visiting family in LA that I’m not sure how I feel about having one in town.
please lower my taxes over 10 years so i can increase your healthcare costs for decades. makes sense to me!
If they are sourcing their beef from cattle going through Fort Worth, it looks like a no-brainer.
I’m a Five Guys person myself, but more choice is always better.
I’d prefer to just enjoy them in California. Besides, they’ll just put locations in places like the Woodlands that are out of reach for an inner-looper.
If they expand anything like Five Guys did, they’ll be all over the inner loop.
As far as non-local chain burgers go, it’s going to be hard to beat Five Guys. Yummy.
Its the first place I hit when I go to Cali.
Five Guys is mediocre, in my opinion. Definitely not impressed. They might have an edge up in the fries department, but In-N-Out has them beat in the burger department.
I’m having a hard time understanding the following of Five Guys. Went there once. Didn’t seem all that special – especially for the price.
This would be a huge change for In-N-Out. One of the reasons that their geographic spread has been so small to date is that all of the patties are ground in Baldwin Park, CA and then shipped refrigerated to the restaurant. Insisting that nothing was frozen and that only they control meat quality and preparation limited the spread. From Fort Worth you could now imagine approximately the same range from that second central hub. Looking forward to it!
Could come up with a much better burger with just three guys.
Whataburger all the way.
Was in Dallas this weekend. On Sunday, we drove by what I thought was a mega-church traffic and parking with policeman and orange cones. My niece informed me it was the line to drive though In-n-Out and that people have been waiting in line for up to 2 hours for the drive thru!
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with an IN-N-Out burger, but there’s nothing that special about them either. If they were a chain from, say, South Dakota, would people in Dallas be lining up for them? Doubtful.
Best news in forever, if it will taste like it does in Cali…
I just came back from Dallas and had some In N Out. Wait until 10PM on a Monday and don’t go through the drive through. The line will be shorter. Why does Dallas get everything first?
Tom– that’s what I said too… and then I tried it for a second time and the second time was definitely the charm. Agreed on the fries, too. Anyway, as far as greasy cheesy burgers go, 5 Guys is great– almost as good as Lankford and Christians’. Anyway, I consider myself a bit of a hamburger aficionado, the way other people enjoy wine or cigars, I enjoy burgers.
PLEASE do not even mention five guys along with In-N-Out. In-N-Out *** DESTROIES*** five guys. I miss a lot from my move from San Diego, but after the weather and the beach, comes In-N-Out.
THE REASON DFW NORMALLY GET EVERYTHING 1ST IS BECAUSE PEOPLE LACK OF KNOWLEDGE A LOT OF PEOPLE BELIEVE WHAT THEY SEE EXAMPLE TV DALLAS J.R. J.F.K. EVEN SOME PEOPLE IN TEXAS POSSIBLY HOUSTON PROBALY THINK DALLAS IS A LARGER CITY. WHEN THE FACTS ARE HOUSTON IS LARGER AND RICHER WE ARE THE 5TH RICHEST CITY
AND THE COUNTRY SOME REPORTS EVEN HAVE US 4TH
BEHIND N.Y.C.,L.A.,CHICAGO, AND WASHINGTON D.C. THESE ARE FEDERAL RESERVE STATS.
To correctly answer the Dallas question:
Though Dallas is smaller than Houston (it’s amlost or maybe smaller than San Antonio now), the DFW area has a larger total population. When companies are looking to expand a new restaurant, the demographic researchers will see this and choose Dallas in Texas first.
Also, Dallas has a larger TV media market than Houston.
P.S. Dallas doesn’t have an In and Out Burger. The northern suburbs have one. It’ll be like the Woodlands having one and none in Houston.
Cody, I guess we all will be the judge of that soon enough. Though, I had my share of in-n-out as a kid, and I just don’t remember it being all that great.
I take this news with blithe indifference, because I dine at Beck’s.
Dallas does have an In and Out Burger within the city limits. It is at North Central Expy. and Caruth Haven Lane, just a bit south of NorthPark Mall. It opened in June, with Dallas police providing traffic control to handle the cars turning into the drive-thru line.
One reason I think chains go to Dallas before Houston is the longtime presence of the Apparal Mart, along with the Home Furnishings Market in Dallas. These both bring in lots of the “trendmaker” people from the coasts to Dallas, where they see Texans have money and taste ( well, sort of).
I read about them in the book “Fast Food Nation”, they were cited as an example of how fast food can be done a bit better than the big chains do it now. Good quality products, they pay a liveable wage, offer benefits.
Glad they are coming to TX!
Five Guys is an In-N-Out knockoff, so not sure why anyone would prefer them over the real thing.
This is excellent news. In-N-Out isn’t as good as Beck’s, Bubbas, or Southwell’s but it’s the best fast food burger around. Although, Whataburger sure ain’t bad!
If they can’t make it work unless they get a tax break, go home. Texas has enough burger joints and enough tax breaks, no thanks!
How did Five Guys copy In-and-Out?
Then every regional fast food chain in the U.S. would have had to have copy them also if they happen to have a start date past 1948.
Also, the concept of the “never frozen patty” isn’t new either. Wendy’s does the same thing and has always done it. They never advertised it until recently.
Never frozen just means it was refrigerated to near frozen. In-and-Out and many regional and one national chain does all this the same way. When you churn out as many burgers as these places do, it’s possible to constantly get fresh shipments because it’s easier than storing the shear amount of burgers frozen.
DFW AREA INCLUDES 16 COUNTIES AND IT IS LARGER BY THE CENSUS CONSIDERING THEY COUNT A LARGER AREA EVEN SO THE HOUSTON AREA IS STILL RICHER AND HAS A LARGER GNP.HOUSTON IS ONLY A FEW 100,OOO LESS EVEN WHEN THE CENSUS WHICH IS BASE OUT OF THE DALLAS AREA INTENTIONALLY MISS COUNT THE TOTAL POPULATION ON PURPOSE SO THAT DALLAS FT.WORTH CAN COUNT ALL THE TEXAS POPULATION TO THE OKLAHOMA BORDER BROWNWOOD,DENTON,TYLER,LEWISVILLE AND STEPHENVILLE IT SHOULD BE LARGER HOUSTON IS THE ONLY CITY AND THE TOP 10 CENSUS THAT DOES NOT COUNT OTHER STATES AND OTHER LARGE CITIES IN THERE METRO AREA OVER 200,000.
5 guys is very overrated…their burgers are good but definitely not the best…
Im not sure that I would agree that Dallas gets everything first. Greasy fast food places, okay maybe. Put most folks in Dallas are envious of the music we get here, and in particular the international DJs. The travelling art shows are better here too. I guess it just depends on what you are into.
I am into burgers. And art. Not really art. Just burgers.
It’s a burger people.
I can do a burger on the grill that will kill In n Out and Five Guys.
The reason why In and Out decides to open up one in Dallas and not Houston bc people in Houston are a bunch of close minded conservatives scared to think outside the box. Hence, Dallas always gets more musical artists playing in their city then coming to Houston. Nobody wants to come here bc of this fake Texan pride…so go ahead and keep your Whataburgers and don’t expand…
Richard, now how in the world did you ever come up with that post? If you want to dog on Houston, you have no reason not to simply base your bash in reality. It makes it more believable. Why not say it’s cuz Houston has no sense of history, horrible public transit, concrete bayous and too much pollution? But to say the capitalists over at in n out opened up shop in Dallas first because Houston, an oasis of liberalism, is too conservative? That’s just dumb. Come on! There is lots of stuff wrong with Houston- but being conservative isn’t one of them. Anywayz, didn’t in and out actually open up shop in Collin County, the near Fascist reich wing stronghold of the Dallas suburbs? Hey, it’s ok, go ahead and love Houston. What is this post about, again? Oh yeah. Mmmm. Burgers.
I detoured 100 miles from my normal route coming from Indianapolis back to the Woodlands just to get my Double Double fix in. I went to the Rockwall location and had no trouble getting served. The quality has not suffered in the move, the burger was excellent as expected. Can’t wait for their Houston arrival.
they need to come to 1960 and 290 area!! same with del taco!
249 and Louetta next to the Wells Fargo across from HEB Vintage… Would be nice.
i want in n out in HOUSTON~~~~~~~~~~~
What I wouldn’t give for an “In & Out” Double, Double with cheese, order of freshly peeled & cut french fries and a choclate shake. I (and many of my friends) would definetly be regulars if 1 or 2 are built in Humble, TX!!!!!!!!! Houston GO FOR IT!!!