In-I-Nout's light-up sign beckons.
Screenshot via GooglePicture this: You’re cruising down the highway out of Culiacán, the capital of the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa. It’s 9 p.m., and the last hints of blue have faded from the night sky. After a long, hot day, you’re tired and a little hungry. You miss California.
That’s when you see it. You pull over and rub your eyes, but they’re not deceiving you. “IN-I-NOUT,” the brightly lit sign reads.
Not “In-N-Out” — “In-I-Nout.”
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when the copycat burger restaurant opened. Older Google Street View footage just shows a shuttered, unmarked blue building where the establishment now stands. The restaurant’s first Instagram post dates back to June, and the Google ratings started trickling in about a month ago (one reviewer gave it a 100% recommendation, while another complained of long waits and lack of air conditioning). Patrons’ photos show uncannily accurate Double-Doubles and animal fries, complete with grilled onions and spread, all served on familiar red trays. Inside, the restaurant looks, well, like a knockoff In-N-Out, complete with red booths.
The restaurant draws on In-N-Out’s nostalgia for 1950s Americana: Walls are adorned with old-school Coca-Cola and diner posters, and there’s even a diner counter. At least some customers seem to be in on the bit, too. In a viral TikTok documenting In-I-Nout, American country music plays over footage of the restaurant’s burgers. To Californians, In-N-Out is a fast food chain. But Culiacán's In-I-Nout is a symbol of a bygone time in a faraway place.
Maybe In-N-Out could learn a thing or two from its imitator. A photo posted on In-I-Nout’s Instagram account depicts what appear to be buffalo chicken tenders — which the real In-N-Out, with its rigidly standardized menu, has never offered. And to be honest, the fries look better than the California In-N-Out’s limp, starchy offerings.