The Strict Rule All Male In-N-Out Employees Must Follow in Idaho

When In-N-Out Burger opened their first location in Meridian, the message was pretty clear. Idaho loves In-N-Out. With three more potential locations on the way in Boise, Nampa and Meridian, it appears that the feeling is mutual! 

There are several Idaho based In-N-Out Burger groups on Facebook. If you’re ever wondering what the status of the additional locations looks like, pop in there. On June 18, John Sowell posted photos of the location under construction near Boise Towne Square Mall. While it’s not painted yet, it’s taken shape enough that anyone familiar with the chain would recognize it as an In-N-Out restaurant. Fans are trying to predict an opening date. 

READ MORE: Construction is Officially Underway at Idaho's Second In-N-Out

If history has taught us anything, trying to guess is difficult. The company is incredibly tight lipped about their grand openings. They didn’t announce the opening date of the Meridian location until the day BEFORE it opened. But good news traveled fast. Several sources say that the location sold a record 9,100 burgers on that day. Lines were anywhere between six and eight hours long. 

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The lines aren’t quite as long now, but if you visit the Idaho-N-Out Meridian Idaho Wait Time Tracker group some folks are still waiting over an hour during the restaurant’s peak hours. 

Have You Noticed This at Idaho’s In-N-Out?

In-N-Out has arguably one of the most recognizable uniforms in fast food but there’s a subtle difference between what male and female employees wear at all of their locations, including the Meridian store and future Idaho locations. Mashed stumbled across a Reddit thread where In-N-Out employees were discussing the company’s dress code. 

That post revealed that the male employees MUST wear the paper hats unless they’re outside taking handheld orders on sunny days. Only the women get to wear the red, snapback style hats. Back in 2019, a female employee who shared 10 secrets about the restaurant admitted that the paper hats were probably easier to deal with. She noted that without bobby pins and tucking your hair in just the right way, the hats wouldn’t fit correctly. 

If you keep digging through the In-N-Out Reddit, you’ll see that it seems to be a universal problem. There’s an entire thread where female employees share their go-to hairstyles for making the hat fit without pieces of their hair sticking out or the hat looking lumpy. 

Still, that hasn’t stopped non-employees from jumping onto the forum and asking how they can get a hat like the one employees wear. In-N-Out does NOT sell that particular style of hat to the general public. That said, there are a handful of former employees selling their gently used hats on eBay. The asking prices range from $35-$89. 

Mashed did quote a Reddit user who said that exceptions can be made if a person identifies as a different gender than the one they were assigned at birth, but it needs to be made known to their manager.