Think of the care In-N-Out Burger has taken to carefully promote its brand. Despite a cult-like demand from potential customers in unserved areas, it has expanded slowly, only adding franchises at a rate that allows it to maintain the quality of its burgers, fries, shakes, and service. But even with corporate advertising, splashy media coverage, a great logo (see screen capture), and my own customer experiences, until last week I was spelling and pronouncing the name incorrectly.
I had always thought the burger chain’s name was In-And-Out Burger. You know, go in to order and eat your food AND go out after that. “In-And-Out” is the way I would have spelled it and also the name I used when suggesting to family that we go there for lunch. No one ever corrected me. They always just said “great idea.”
Taking my dad there is a nice memory. Of course, he liked just about any place with fresh burgers and thick shakes.
I’m not a designer, but I think the logo still works with -And- replacing -N- in the middle position.
Last week In-N-Out was in the news, getting tons of free publicity, and some negative comments on Reddit, over its decision to remove “67” from the numerical sequence of customer order numbers because of chaos in the restaurants when 67 was called. I don’t understand the current fascination with this number, especially among younger people, but it’s well documented and isn’t the point of this post. Personally, I like the number “67” because 1967 is the year I graduated from high school, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to seek it out.
While reading the online articles about the ban, I realized that I have been wrong about In-N-Out’s name from the beginning. However I got my first impression, it was hard to shed.
Consider this: A close friend sometimes wears an In-N-Out T-shirt, I have dined at several In-N-Out restaurants while visiting family in San Diego, and there was extensive local media coverage in August when In-N-Out opened its first franchise in Washington state (in Ridgefield, which is just north of Portland, Oregon). Plus, during my working years as a technical editor for a software company, I tried to make sure information was written clearly and spelled correctly. None of that has apparently helped.
So why admit how clueless I was and does it matter? It won’t stop me from going to In-N-Out for lunch should the company continue its long march up the I-5 corridor and open a franchise near Seattle. Also, I’m not alone. People misspell or get the names wrong of companies with bigger advertising budgets and more corporate presence than In-N-Out at surprising rates. MacDonalds (for McDonalds), Starbuks (for Starbucks), and Mercedez (for Mercedes) are three examples. And there are companies that misspell their names intentionally, like Krispy Kreme Donuts and Lyft. Maybe In-N-Out did too?
The real reason is a reminder to always be ready to reexamine what you think you know especially considering how easy it is to get things wrong when it comes to business and technology. And when you are wrong, accept it, correct it, and own it.
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