(NEXSTAR) – In-N-Out is bringing along one of its most treasured traditions when it expands operations to Tennessee in the coming years: its distinctive palm trees.
The news comes about a year after members from In-N-Out’s social media team suggested that Tennessee’s climate might not support palm-inclusive landscaping.
“I can confirm that we will include our traditional crossed palms at our Tennessee locations,” a representative for In-N-Out confirmed in an email obtained by Nexstar.
The criss-crossing palm trees, which can be seen forming an “X” outside of most In-N-Out restaurants, were first planted at a California location in 1972.
“The founder of In-N-Out Burger, Harry Snyder, wanted to choose a symbol that would set In-N-Out apart from other restaurants,” a communications manager for In-N-Out previously told Nexstar. “He decided on an idea he picked up from the movie ‘It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World’ from the early 1960s.”
The movie, released in 1963, concerns a group of motorists on a mad dash to a state park in California, where they believe a secret stash of cash is waiting for them underneath a “big W.” Toward the end of the film, the group arrives at the park and finds a formation of palm trees in the shape of a W, marking the spot of the treasure.
In-N-Out founder Harry Snyder liked the idea so much that he began planting palm trees outside of his restaurants in 1972 albeit in the shape of an X instead of a W to mark the spot of his own symbolic “treasure,” according to an official online history of In-N-Out.
In-N-Out, however, is careful to say that its crossed palms have only been placed at “most” of its locations not all of them. They also appear to be slightly harder to find at relatively newer locations outside of California, according to images available online.
As some customers have also claimed, a few of the newer In-N-Out restaurants used to have criss-crossing palms out front, but the trees were removed or didn’t make it through winter.
“They died in Colorado,” one In-N-Out fan once claimed in response to an Instagram post about the palm trees. “Need to put up metal ones here… people here will love that.”
Weather permitting (of course), In-N-Out indeed seems eager to try to plop down palm trees when it pulls up in Tennessee.
“We prefer that our restaurants feature crossed palm trees, and most of them do,” an In-N-Out representative said. “However, certain climates prevent a small number of our locations from having them.”
