Replies

I worked at Wendy’s in 1982, and it was normal to have a couple dozen hamburger patties staged on the grill at a time throughout lunch and dinner.

Wendy's was a bit busier in those days. I loved the scratch-off cards to win a Porsche 911. (You had to spell "Hot and juicy", but the "y" was hard to get). The menu went from super simple: single, double, triple, chili, fries, frosty, drinks to cutting edge pushing the envelope: baked potatoes, Salad Bar, Super Bar, multi-grain bun.

A typical In'n'Out can handle an order of 100x100 easily enough. Here in Phoenix, the drive through lane can run thirty cars deep easily, and they are moved through quickly. They pay a premium to get superior kids to work the grill and register, easily on par with Chick-Fil-A and Culver's. Miles ahead of Popeye's, McDonald's (Kroc is spinning) and Wendy's.

The salad bar was a good thing back then. I kept that thing stocked and iced all shift. Got a lot of compliments.

Wish In n Out was in the Detroit area.