“Do people know what animal style is?”
That’s the question one In-N-Out order taker is posing on Reddit after noticing an influx of customers requesting “Animal Style” the wrong way.
“Most of my shifts are order taking and i’ve come to realize that people don’t really know what animal style is, they just wanna be able to say they got it,” the worker, user orangeecat26, said in a post has 462 upvotes and over 150 comments.
They said that at least 20 customers each shift improperly order their items Animal Style.
What is Animal Style at In-N-Out, and how do you order it?
You can get any burger or your fries Animal Style at In-N-Out. An Animal-Style burger consists of grilled onions, In-N-Out spread, a mustard-grilled patty (or patties, depending on if you got a double), and extra pickles. Animal-Style fries consist of cheese, spread, and grilled onions.
To order it, just ask for any burger or fries “Animal Style.”
But when customers order this at orangeecat26’s location, they also ask for “no grilled onion, pickles, or spread” or “no fried mustard, grilled onion, or pickle”—which is contradictory to their Animal-Style request.
“This is not actually a rant but a genuine question like… i’m just really confused,” the worker said.
Commenters aimed to explain what’s going on in the customers’ minds in the comments section.
“Some people just don’t know how to order in a specific way. At the same time, there are some that have no idea what they are ordering,” one said.
“I would say about 50% know what it is, the other 50% is a mixture of people only ordering it because they saw someone else order (or online) or they think animal style = spread on the burger,” another wrote.
“A lot of them are just completely oblivious to the fact that animal style is not anything separate from a combination of ingredients. It blew my dad’s mind to hear that animal style is just fried mustard, pickles, extra spread and grilled onions. He had been going to in and out for decades. It’s very likely that these people think animal style includes some secret ingredient or seasoning that is only added if you ask for animal style,” a third explained.
Animal Style history
According to company lore, Animal Style burgers were created in 1961 “in response to customer requests.”
In her book “Birth of Icons,” Lynsi Snyder, heiress as well as the current CEO and owner of In-N-Out Burger, shared the Animal Style origin story.
Back in the day, according to Snyder’s book, some In-N-Out customers were so rowdy—they “would honk their horns while orders were taken” or “leave trash on the lots and play their music extra loud”—that workers referred to them as “animals.”
In 1961, a manager was making himself a mustard-fried patty burger with pickles, grilled onions, and extra spread. One of these rowdy customers saw it and inquired about it. “Sounds amazing. Can you make me one too?” the customer reportedly asked the manager.
The burger became that customer’s go-to order, and they would order it by calling it “Animal Style.” “That’s how Animal Style burgers got their name, and the request is the first known instance of a secret In-N-Out menu item,” Snyder wrote in her book, per Insider.
In-N-Out successfully trademarked “Animal Style,” according to Justia, which notes that the company first filed for the trademark back in 2012.
The family-owned burger chain eventually added it to the official “not-so-secret” secret menu.
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