On Tuesday morning (as early as 9:30am) a puzzling and random mad queue clogged up Circular Road all the way through out to Boat Quay. The queue, consisting of over 300 curious Singaporeans started at Golden Grill restaurant, where a popular burger chain held a guerilla-style promotion.
Wristbands were handed out shortly before 11am and get this – in only five minutes, all 300 wristbands were given out. What caused this madness?
None other than American burger joint “In-N-Out”.
In-N-Out is a regional chain of fast food restaurants with 275 locations (as of June 2012) in the United States. And because they hold true to their promise of “freshness”, none of their outlets is located more than one day’s drive from a regional distribution center. The company is most famous for the burgers e.g. hamburger, cheeseburger, and their specialty “Double-Double” (double meat/double cheese).
If you think fresh fast food is a little bit of an oxymoron, well, Singapore just gave a new meaning to the term “fast food” when they wiped out the In-N-Out pop-up store’s inventory of 300 burgers in under 15 minutes. It was mental! It probably took less time to buy a burger than to eat it.
Its specialty, the “Double-Double” went for S$6, while the cheeseburgers and hamburgers went for S$5 and S$4 respectively. And like we said, only one burger per customer. What’s a curious epicurean to do?
The pop-up event held in Singapore is the third one held so far in Asia and Australasia. The first took place in Shanghai last December while the second took place in Sydney in January. The Australian pop-up reportedly sold out in 23 minutes.
Why the sudden In-N-Out pop-up store, you ask?
According to Yahoo! Singapore, the store was a test case for In-N-Out to see if it’s worth setting up a permanent store in Singapore. The first one took place in Shanghai last December while the second took place in Sydney in January 2012. And although it was very well received, nobody should get their hopes up about a permanent branch in Singapore yet.
The company specifically stated in their Facebook page’s FAQ:
Tough luck!
For more information, visit In-N-Out’s Facebook page.
