Restaurant News

Start lining up. (No!) Here’s when In-N-Out Burger hopes to open new Boise restaurant

Nice knowing you, Meridian — but Boise is outta there!

After braving Eagle Road traffic for the past 10 months, City of Trees hamburger junkies soon will make a shorter trip for their Double-Double fix.

In-N-Out Burger is readying its second Idaho restaurant — this time, in Boise proper.

The new location is beckoning at 140 N. Milwaukee St. next to Boise Towne Square. And the opening date is so close you can almost smell the fries.

“We hope to open this store by the end of the month,” Patty Peña, marketing communications specialist, said in an email.

Do not haul your sleeping bag over there and start lining up, Boise. Seriously — there are still a couple of weeks left in October.

When In-N-Out opened in Meridian, people waiting in line for hours at The Village at Meridian. Some fans camped overnight in the parking lot, while others arrived at the break of dawn.
When In-N-Out opened in Meridian, people waiting in line for hours at The Village at Meridian. Some fans camped overnight in the parking lot, while others arrived at the break of dawn. Darin Oswald doswald@idahostatesman.com

Sure, the opening is massive news for fans of the Irvine-based chain, which unleashed its fast-food superpowers on The Village at Meridian last December. California transplants — er, longtime Idahoans — lined up overnight for that earth-shattering event. It made national headlines like this one in The Washington Post: “In-N-Out opens to long waits in Idaho: ‘It’s the Hunger Games out here.’ ”

Multi-hour waits for the chain’s famously affordable hamburgers and “animal-style” deliciousness continued for days after that. (Weeks? Who knows?)

The Boise grand opening probably won’t be quite as nuts. Shouldn’t be quite as nuts.

Then again, In-N-Out’s “not-so-secret menu” is pretty addictive.

Either way, crowds should thin out over time. Because In-N-Out aims to keep opening more restaurants across the Treasure Valley.

Earlier this year, Meridian city records showed that In-N-Out filed a pre-application request to build another restaurant at 5985 N. Ten Mile Road, near Costco. And last year, a building application was submitted to the city of Nampa for a store at 16225 N. Marketplace Blvd., according to previous Statesman reporting.

This story was originally published October 11, 2024 at 5:09 PM.

Michael Deeds
Idaho Statesman
Michael Deeds is a long-serving entertainment reporter and opinion columnist at the Idaho Statesman, where he chronicles the Boise good life: restaurants, concerts, culture, cool stuff. He started as a summer intern after graduating from the University of Nebraska with a news-editorial journalism degree. Deeds’ prior Statesman roles have included sportswriter, music critic and features editor. His other writing has ranged from freelancing album reviews for The Washington Post to bragging about Boise in that inflight magazine you left on the plane. 
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