Store Design and Layout
The signature colors for In-N-Out are white, red, and yellow. The white is used for the buildings' exterior walls and the employees' basic uniform. Red is used for the buildings' roofs and the employees' aprons and hats. Yellow is used for the decorative band on the roof and iconic zig-zag in the logo. However, variations in the color scheme do occur.
The first In-N-Outs' had a common design, placing the kitchen "stand" between two lanes of cars. The "front" lane is nearest the street, and the "back" lane away from the street. A metal awning provides shade for several tables for customers desiring to park and eat, but there is no indoor dining. A walk-up window faces the parking area. These restaurants store food and supplies in a separate building, and it is not uncommon for a driver to be asked to wait a moment while employees carry supplies to the kitchen across the rear lane.
This simpler design is a popular image on In-N-Out ads and artwork, which often shows classic cars such as 1965 Mustangs and 1968 Firebirds visiting the original restaurants. The original Covina restaurant, located on Arrow Highway west of Grand Avenue, was forced to close in the early 1990s due to re-engineering and development of the area. A modern design, drive-up/dining room restaurant was built a few hundred feet away. The new building is much larger (approximately half the size of the entire lot upon which the earlier restaurant sat), and is often filled to capacity.
Like many chain restaurants, newer In-N-Out restaurants are based on a set of templates or "cookie-cutter" blueprints, which are chosen based on available space and expected traffic levels. While external appearance of its buildings may vary to meet local zoning and architectural requirements, the interior floor plan and decor in most recently constructed In-N-Out restaurants are identical. However, some restaurants are designed to stand out, such as the restaurants at Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco and Westwood, Los Angeles.
Today's typical location has an interior layout that includes a customer service counter with registers in front of a kitchen and food preparation area. There are separate storage areas for paper goods (napkins, bags, etc.) and "dry" food goods (potatoes, buns, etc.), as well as a walk-in refrigerator for perishable goods (lettuce, cheese, spread etc.), and a dedicated meat refrigerator for burger patties. The customer area includes an indoor dining room with a combination of booths, tables, and bar-style seating. Outside seating is usually available as well, with tables and benches. Most newer restaurants contain a one-lane drive-through.
There are other design elements common among today's In-N-Out locations. Matching In-N-Out's California-inspired palm tree theme, palm trees are sometimes planted to form an "X" in front of the restaurants. This is an allusion to founder Harry Snyder's favorite movie, Stanley Kramer's It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, in which the characters look for a hidden treasure and find it under "the big W" made by four palm trees, with the middle two forming an "X".
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Famous quotes containing the words store and/or design:
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—Shirley Temple Black (b. 1928)
“To nourish children and raise them against odds is in any time, any place, more valuable than to fix bolts in cars or design nuclear weapons.”
—Marilyn French (20th century)