A secret strategy to pay much less for an In-N-Out burger is no more.
The ordering hack, used by some customers to pay just a fraction of the price for one of the popular restaurant chain’s secret burgers, has been deleted after corporate officers appear to have caught on to the sneaky work around.
A popular burger known as the “Flying Dutchman” consists of two beef patties and two slices of cheese, with no bun. Yet you won’t find it on the burger chain’s menu because it is one of In-N-Out’s secret menu items.
In California restaurants, the burger sells for $5.50, which is a few cents less than the popular “Double-Double.”
Some customers, however, would simply order two patties and two slices of cheese, giving them a nearly half-off discount on what is essentially a “Flying Dutchman” without ordering it by name.
According to a memo posted on Reddit earlier this week, it appears In-N-Out caught on to the hack, and has moved to change the prices on individual patties and cheese slices in response.
SFGate first reported on the memo.
“The new price of a meat and cheese patty will be aligned with Flying Dutchman pricing — a meat and cheese patty will be half the price of a Flying Dutchman,” according to the March 20 memo from In-N-Out’s Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick.
That essentially means that ordering two patties and two slices of cheese — the equivalent of a “Flying Dutchman”— will be charged at the price of a “Flying Dutchman.”
The price of adding a single patty or cheese slice to a typical burger, however, will not change.
In-N-Out did not confirm the veracity of the memo, and did not immediately respond to a request to comment from the Los Angeles Times.
Instead, the Times confirmed the price change at an In-N-Out in Glendale, where two beef patties and two slices of cheese ran for $5.50 — the cost of a “Flying Dutchman.”
Adding a patty and slice of cheese to another burger, however, ran cheaper, adding a total of $1.85 to the price.
In the unconfirmed memo, Warnick notes that the new price changes could confuse and upset some customers.
“Please be sensitive to any disappointment on behalf of our Customers,” the memo reads. “They are our Number One, and this change may take them by surprise.”
