Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com

Photo Courtesy of Flickr.com

In-N-Out is a well loved fast food burger joint across the West known for its mouthwatering burgers and fries. Regular customers know that all the best items can be found on the secret menu. But, how secret is it really if everyone knows about it? The secret menu is home to the famous animal fries and grilled cheese. The grilled cheese, while not children or picky-eater friendly, is vegetarian friendly. It is more than just cheese and bread. It includes veggies and special sauce. This has always been an option for those who do not eat meat. Recently, however, there has been a petition floating around the internet that calls for a veggie burger to be added to the In-n-Out menu. This petition can be found on change.org and needs around eleven thousand more signatures before it gets passed. There are two sides to every argument. There are the reasons why a veggie burger would be a good idea and reasons why it would not be a good idea.
CONS:
This petition, while having good intentions, may seem problematic or pointless. The purpose of adding a veggie burger to the menu would be to allow vegetarians a non-meat alternative on the menu. This may seem pointless because In-n-Out already has a non-meat alternative—the grilled cheese. Since it is a fast food burger joint, the focus on the menu really should be on the meats and burgers. While adding a veggie burger would add more choices for people, it really is not necessary.

PROS:
Vegetarians don’t eat meat—that’s fact. To non-vegetarians, eating fake meat seems counterintuitive. But, depending on the ingredients on this potential veggie burger, it could be a good vegan option for the menu. The grilled cheese is good for vegetarians but not vegans. Plus, some individuals are lactose-intolerant or find cheese to be disgusting. Even vegans often do not have lots of choices in fast food restaurants. If In-n-Out added this veggie burger to the menu, they could increase the number of customers they get—provided there are no dairy products included in the burger.

CONCLUSION:
As a fan of In-n-Out, I don’t believe that a veggie burger is necessary. While it is nice to be able to cater to everyone’s needs and preferences, that is extremely difficult and not practical or realistic. It’s not possible for every restaurant to cater to every dietary restriction a person might have. They can, however, be flexible and can modify orders. But to add completely new items in attempt to do that may take away what’s unique to the restaurant’s style. Would In-n-Out still be the same burger joint if it offered veggie burgers and salads? No. People don’t go to In-n-Out to eat healthier choices—people go there for double doubles and grilled cheese sandwiches.
Everything has its pros and cons. At the end of the day, everyone wants to be able to have at least one item they can eat at a restaurant. While I personally would not eat a veggie burger, I can think of several others that would eat it over grilled cheese.

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