In-N-Out just gets it

For those of you that don't live on in California or Arizona, or who have never had the pleasure of visiting an In-N-Out Burger while traveling to one of those states, I feel sorry for you. In-N-Out is nothing less than the best fast food restaurant in the US - bar none.

That's the reason I was so happy to see that Business Week included a fantastic profile of the company in the April 20, 2009 edition of the magazine. The profile is an excerpt of the book entitled In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules.

So what's so great about In-N-Out you ask? First, the chain serves quality food. Seriously, In-N-Out is consistently occupies the top spot on the Sandelman & Associates Quick Track awards list for quality fast food. Second, as the book and BW article explains in detail, In-N-Out actually cares about its employees. In a world where fast food restaurants go through employees as if they have an expiration date, In-N-Out treats it's associates as valued members of the company. And that turns out to be a huge competitive advantage for the company.

While Burger King and McDonald's have to train new employees practically every day because of the high turnover (avg of 1 year tenure), the average tenure for an In-N-Out part-time associate is two years. A lot of that is the higher pay ($2 above minimum wage), but don't discount the qualitative affects of being treated like a part of the team. And it works. I've never been in an In-N-Out and received bad service - EVER. Associates are always ready with a smile and actually appear to be happy to be there. When's the last time you could say that about any other fast food restaurant?

And finally, the company's strategy of picking a few things and doing them better than everyone else just works. The menu has maybe 3-5 items on it so it's operations are significantly simplified compared to the 20 foot wide menu at national chains. The simplified menu leads to shorter orders and less waiting. All of these things leads to a quality visitor experience and are big reasons why you'll almost never hear anyone complain about In-N-Out.