In-N-Out wants to open in this Fresno-area city. Why one restaurant isn’t happy about it
In-N-Out Burger is moving ahead with plans to open a restaurant in Madera.
A restaurant is still many months (and possibly more than a year) away from opening, but the popular burger chain last week got a key permit it needs to open a location.
The news has been celebrated by loyal In-N-Out fans in the area, but left the owner of the restaurant now operating on the site where it’s planning to locate feeling pushed out.
The Madera Planning Commission approved In-N-Out’s application for a restaurant at 1830 W. Cleveland Avenue, just off Highway 99 near the Madera Fairgrounds.
It’s the spot now occupied by the Sugar Pine Smokehouse.
The burger giant would knock down the existing building and build a new a 3,879-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru and patio.
Madera residents have long wanted an In-N-Out in town. Although there’s 260 locations in California and five in Fresno, none are in Madera. The next closest is in Merced.
The restaurant has loyal fans in the Valley, who don’t mind lining up their cars – even if they occasionally spill out into the street – to wait for a double-double burger with animal-style fries (topped with their sauce, melted cheese and grilled onions).
A “Bring In N Out to Madera” Facebook group has more than 3,300 members.
But fans may not have bargained for an In-N-Out opening on a spot now occupied by another restaurant.
Sugar Pine opened three years ago, serving barbecue, and menu items like its tri-tip sandwich, steak, and clam chowder in a bread bowl.
Like many restaurants, Sugar Pine struggled to bring in enough income to pay bills like rent during the shutdowns of the COVID-19 pandemic, said owner Lisa Gill. As a result, she agreed to a deal with the landlord for a three-month lease, meaning either the renter or the landlord could pull out of the lease agreement with three months notice.
Sugar Pine doesn’t have to be out just yet, but it is looking for a new home.
“It’s just a little a bump in our road,” she said. “We will just be having to relocate our location. We have a couple of ideas of where we’re going but we’re not ready to speak publicly.”
Gill notes that In-N-Out’s plans are not a done deal. The restaurant will still need approvals for demolition and construction. It could be another six months or so before Sugar Pine would need to leave, she said.
And an In-N-Out representative also noted that their plans are a long ways off.
“It is still very early in the development process,” said Mike Abbate, In-N-Out’s assistant vice president of real estate and development in an email. “There is still quite a bit of work to be done before we begin construction, so it would be premature to comment on a timeline or anything like a potential opening date.”
Once construction starts, it usually takes seven or eight months to open a location, he said.
For Sugar Pine, having to move after surviving the pandemic is “a bummer,” Gill said, noting that the business gives free meals to kids who make the honor roll in Madera Unified School District.
“We’re a family-owned and operated business. We donate a ton to our community,” she said. “That’s a big thing that a lot of people don’t understand, what COVID did to us, and the fact that we’ve been able to stay alive.”
This story was originally published April 20, 2022 at 2:45 PM.
