A Bay Area native goes to extreme lengths to fly In-N-Out burgers from California to his home in the Big Apple – and he’s sharing his tips with fellow New Yorkers desperate for a meal from the West Coast chain.
Spencer Farrar, 55, a retired Marine Corps colonel and California transplant living in New York, travels often for work – and he brings an extra carry-on bag each time so he can fly a dozen burgers home to New York.
A Reddit post he made sharing his tips and tricks gained traction among die-hard In-N-Out fans – racking up nearly 2,000 reactions and more than 200 comments.
“Great idea. Moved from So Cal to NYC 6 years ago and always either brought some myself (making rookie mistakes) or asked my fam to bring me some when visiting me,” one user wrote in a post.
Another Reddit user asked Farrar if he ever considered selling the transplant burgers to New Yorkers.
“I bet I could sell a Double Double for $20, but it would be a hassle, and I’d probably get sued by the company if they found out,” he replied. “If In-N-Out opened up here, I guarantee this would be the top restaurant in the country.”
His preservation methods go a step beyond a plastic bag and lunch box.
Before driving to the airport, his last stop in California is always an In-N-Out location, where he orders about a dozen plain burgers – no tomatoes, onions or lettuce, which can make the buns soggy. If anything, these extra ingredients should be brought back in a separate container, according to Farrar.
Sauce packets should be ordered on the side for the same reason, and avoid the french fries, which “don’t taste good after 10 minutes, let alone after a long flight,” he wrote in the Reddit post.
Then, the burgers are placed in large Ziploc bags inside an extra carry-on suitcase, surrounded by pre-frozen ice packs – to avoid the smell carrying across the entire plane, one of his earlier missteps.
As soon as Farrar gets home, he vacuum seals the burgers – removing about 75% of the air so as not to squish them too much – and tosses them in the freezer.
He recommends In-N-Out fanatics eat the frozen burgers within three or four months, though he confessed to going longer.
“I’ll be honest, I’ve had In-N-Outs that I have frozen for over a year and it still tastes great,” Farrar told SFGATE.
When he’s ready to eat the burgers, he defrosts them for about 45 seconds in the microwave, then reheats the patty in the oven at 325 degrees for eight minutes and toasts the bun separately.
Finally, “confuse people by eating in public and tell them an In-N-Out just opened up locally,” Farrar said.
In-N-Out fans have gone wild over less.
In 2019, a Double-Double burger from the chain was found on the streets of Queens – causing a frenzy over suspicions that the company might be opening a New York location. Unfortunately for fans, it had simply been dropped by a Queens high schooler who had flown back from California.
“A lot of the appeal of In-N-Out is the nostalgia for California,” Farrar told SFGATE. “The quirky history, the cryptic religious notes on the cups. It’s a little part of California here on the East Coast that I think a lot of people crave.”
He said he even hands out the defrosted In-N-Out burgers to fellow California transplants as “a holiday present or just to kind of give people cheer” since they are a “novel currency” in New York.
He hopes by flying the burgers home and sharing his tips, he might encourage In-N-Out to open a New York location.
In-N-Out currently has locations in California, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas and Colorado, with about 400 total restaurants.
And it seems New York is unlikely to get an In-N-Out location anytime soon.
In-N-Out is set to open its first Tennessee location in Nashville next year, the furthest east the chain has ventured thus far.
Lynsi Snyder, In-N-Out’s current owner and granddaughter of the chain’s founders, told the “Today” show last year that Tennessee will probably be the most eastward location while she’s in charge.
“As long as I’m around, I’m probably saying never,” she said, about expanding into the East Coast.
In-N-Out did not immediately respond to a request for comment about expansion plans.
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