US burger chain tempts Kiwi taste buds
People queued for more than an hour to get a taste of an In-N-Out Burger, which popped up in Auckland today.
The well-known American food chain set up a temporary store in the Pocket Bar & Kitchen in Grey Lynn yesterday and it only took a couple of tweets to cause the queue to stretch around the corner.
People ducked out on their lunch breaks to get a coveted wrist band to gain entrance. But the food wasn’t free. After waiting for an hour the punters still had to pay between $4 and $7 for a burger.
In-N-Out Burger foreign events manager Eric Billings said no decision had been made about whether a restaurant would open here: “. . . at this time we’re doing more market testing and market branding to see where we’re at.”
In-N-Out Burger only operates in the United States, and Billings said there was potential for it to move elsewhere.
“My main focus was to give Auckland a great experience and take that information back to In-N-Out Burger.” Jimmy, who didn’t want to give his last name, ducked out of work 90 minutes early to join the queue. “I had an In-N-Out Burger in the States and have pretty much been craving it ever since. Probably not the best excuse for wagging work but there you go,” he said.
Harry Stewart left work on the North Shore after he heard about the chance to try one of the famous burgers.
“I do work for my mum. But I just told her ‘I’ve got to go’. She owes me because when we went to the States she promised we’d go there but we didn’t. I’m just pretty curious because I haven’t tried it and I want to see if it does live up to the hype.”
Shaun Fox came over from West Auckland after hearing the news on Twitter.
“When I was in Vegas I tried it and it was just amazing. It’s just nice and fresh and it’s like a proper, hearty burger not like one of these fancy, poncy ones.”
In November 2013 the burger chain operated its first pop-up store in Auckland to test the NZ market.
The company opened its first store in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948. It operates more than 300 stores in six US states.
Retail and hospitality strategist Chris Wilkinson, of First Retail Group, said there was a trend of companies creating pop-up stores in order to give people a taste of their product and leave them wanting more.
“Because it was a short time only it created this intense demand, almost entirely driven off social media,” he said.
He said the company’s focus would be to develop awareness of the brand and tussle for position in New Zealand, with a view to possibly opening a restaurant here.
“The fact that it’s been here just a limited time has created some scarcity value, which can be really good for a brand, and they’ve clearly done that very well.”