In-N-Out has confirmed plans to open its first Washington location—apparently snubbing the Portland area and more recognizable cities in the Evergreen State for Ridgefield, a Clark County town with a population of 10,000. What gives?

Once a fast-food delicacy only available on sunny California vacations, In-N-Out has slowly expanded onward and upward from its original home in Los Angeles County. Its first Oregon location opened in Medford in 2015, followed by Grants Pass in 2017 and Keizer in 2019—the first spot within a reasonable driving distance of Portland, though some fans happily made the pilgrimage south for a Double-Double. The chain bounced down to Roseburg in 2022. Otherwise, it’s been a consistent march north.

But let’s set the record straight: if anything, it’s the Portland area that snubbed In-N-Out, not the other way around. The chain’s 2020 application to set up shop in Tualatin apparently expired without a decision; officials, and their official zoning laws, thwarted attempts to sling burgers in Beaverton in 2022. The fate of the Hillsboro location planned in 2021 is less clear—though some pretty intense community backlash might have something to do with it.

The City of Ridgefield, on the other hand, seems enthusiastic about In-N-Out’s interest in building there, addressing residents’ concerns in a Facebook comment: “Our permitting and engineering team has worked closely with In-N-Out to ensure they are not only creating enough queuing spaces to avoid backups onto roads, but also that the design of the building will be unique, high-quality, and complementary to Ridgefield.”

Still, why choose a small town half an hour away from a big city? In-N-Out hasn’t always favored urban centers in its expansion, often preferring sites adjacent to the freeway that make it more of a road trip go-to than a regular lunch spot. Workers fly through massive queues with impressive speed, though you might still have to wait for those fries you should have ordered well done. And as the fastest-growing city in Washington since 2010, Ridgefield isn’t exactly a random pick.

As most Pacific Northwesterners do, though, residents have mixed feelings about the California transplant. These range from melodramatic (“the last nail in the coffin of what used to be a wonderful place to live,” wrote one commenter) to fanatic (“Shut the front door!!!!!!!”). Long-timers fret about losing their bucolic way of life to commercial development. Some worry about how the household name might affect small businesses like legit local drive-in Don and Jo’s.

If In-N-Out aims to ingratiate itself to locals, may we suggest this golden-fried sponsorship opportunity: Ridgefield’s high school mascot, voted the best in the state of Washington by USA Today, is a potato.