So someone at work suggested today that we try out this burger place that was supposed to be like In-N-Out. In-N-Out seems to have a an almost cultish following here in Utah. Personal opinion: it’s good, but not worth throwing a pill in apple sauce over. But I digress.
When someone said it was “like In-N-Out” I assumed it meant they made similar burgers, maybe even did the fresh cut fries and so forth. I thought it’d be worth a go at least. Half an hour later (we shouldn’t have taken State Street) we were in American Fork, pulling into Chadder’s. There was a line of cars about seven or eight strong waiting to order in the drive-thru. Wow. This place is popular apparently. We went in waited just outside the door because the line was backed up.
OK, apparently cloning is legal in Utah. Step inside Chadder’s and you’ll see. Red and white tiles at eye level, same font in the menu, same ordering options (but it’s a Stubby Double to In-N-Out’s Double Double and you order it “Stubby style” rather than “animal style”), similar pricing scheme, fresh cut fries, and almost an IDENTICAL floor plan to the 2-3 In-N-Out’s I’ve been in.
It’s one thing to mimic a good idea, but to try to rip it off completely? Aren’t there laws in place to protect In-N-Out’s image? It’s pretty blatant that there’s copying going on. I’d be pretty ticked myself if a company did something like that just to ride on the coattails of my success.
Regardless, the food was pretty good so I don’t see much sense in trying to blow the whistle on it or anything. Plus, they take credit cards, which is good for those of us who forget to carry cash. The picture and video below should help if you don’t believe me.
7 responses so far ↓
1 aaron // May 29, 2007 at 7:53 pm
If I had to compare my first visit to stubby’s and ikea stubby’s wins hands down - some ideas are worth copying…
2 Chadder’s owner used to work at In-N-Out? - On Utah Gossip // Jun 1, 2007 at 8:21 am
[…] the rumor mill is buzzing that the owner of Chadder’s is a former executive at In-n-Out. Personally I would be very surprised if this were true because […]
3 Pudding On The Rice - Utah’s Frustrating Lack of Originality - On Utah Gossip // Jun 6, 2007 at 7:52 pm
[…] rip off of a dining idea. I’ve already thrown in my two sense about Chadder’s, the Fake In-N-Out (or Fake-N-Out, as I’ve come to call it). But now, and this one strikes me hard, I find out […]
4 annonymous // Jun 17, 2007 at 10:05 pm
I think you may have copied your blog title from Indifoodcritic.blogspot.com…so yeah, I guess cloning is legal in Utah…
5 utahcountyeyes // Jun 18, 2007 at 6:58 am
annonymous@gmail.com
You wouldn’t *be* the indy food critic, would you? Seriously though, nice one. And learn to spell anonymous if you’d like to remain so, Mr. c-67-182-255-124.hsd1.ut.comcast.net…
What else would you title a post about an In-N-Out ripoff in Utah called Chadder’s? Perhaps “Some restaurant I went to that was like another restaurant based in some other place that looks the same and has the same type of food and pricing structure but just changed a couple names to avoid copyright issues?” Nice one.
6 annoying comments.... // Apr 13, 2008 at 6:46 pm
I am reading your blogs and I am curious as to why some of you are sooooo defensive. Get over it. It’s a place to eat. You don’t like the idea of the “fake” version…then don’t go there.
7 phil // May 14, 2008 at 2:18 pm
I agree - who cares if somebody copies another idea? If it’s a good idea and the restaurant owner doesn’t want to open up a restaurant in Utah then they can’t complain when somebody else does!
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