In-N-Out Burger is expanding its footprint in California and beyond.
The beloved burger joint recently added to its Grand Openings catalog three new locations in California: Indio, Modesto and Monrovia.
The trio of stores will open in 2025 alongside a previously announced Sylmar, Calif., site and three other locations across Arizona, Colorado and Washington — the last of which marks In-N-Out’s debut in the state.
The first of the new restaurants, in Brighton, Colo., opened its doors Friday, said In-N-Out spokersperson Kathleen Hardesty said in a statement. .
The remaining stores are currently under construction and slated to open this year, Hardesty said, adding that “given the unpredictable nature of the development process, we’re unable to provide specific opening dates at this time.”
In-N-Out currently operates in eight states, with just over two-thirds of its stores located in California.
Much of the burger chain’s expansion in recent years has targeted areas with high population growth, said Jim Salera, a restaurant industry analyst at Stephens. That includes both inland cities in California and out-of-state hot spots.
“California was always a state that had a faster growing population, and now you see that more in areas like Arizona, Texas, Florida, Tennessee,” Salera said. “I don’t think it’s coincidental that if you start to look at places where these restaurants are opening up new spots, it’s that same list of states.”
In-N-Out’s continued out-of-state expansion isn’t about fleeing California, Salera said, although labor inflation and rising costs of operation in the state could factor into the equation.
“It’s more just an optimization of their footprint,” Salera said.
By opening locations outside California, the company prevents its current stores from cannibalizing each other’s sales — among the reasons Shake Shack cited for its recent L.A. closures. The move also capitalizes on the market opportunity presented by domestic migration.
“It’s easier to sell to somebody who already knows you,” Salera said, noting that California expats in the Pacific Northwest and the Sun Belt are safe bets for business.
In-N-Out opened its first location outside of California in 1992 in Las Vegas. In 2023, the company announced it would move further east with a handful of restaurants and an eastern territory office set to open in Tennessee in 2026.
Earlier this year, the company announced it will shutter its Orange County corporate office, where the company has been based since 1994, and relocate employees back to Baldwin Park, where its founders first opened a drive-through restaurant in the 1940s.
In-N-Out’s third-generation, owner Lynsi Snyder, said at the time of the corporate consolidation that her family “would be in support of this move because it brings our In-N-Out family back together in a way that helps us better serve our Customers, who are the most important priority.”
In-N-Out’s new locations are as follows:
1. Indio, Calif.: 82177 Ave. 42
2. Modesto, Calif.: 3401 Oakdale Road
3. Monrovia, Calif.: 560 W. Huntington Drive
4. Sylmar, Calif.: 13864 Foothill Blvd.
5. Surprise, Ariz.: 16440 W. Cactus Road
6. Brighton, Colo.: 3860 Eagle Blvd.
7. Ridgefield, Wash.: 5801 Pioneer Canyon Drive
