Facebook post claiming In-N-Out Burger is coming to Wichita goes viral, people lose it
I hate to be the one to have to tell you this, but the Facebook post that spread through Wichita on Monday night about In-N-Out Burger’s impending arrival in Wichita was just a cruel, cruel April Fools’ Day joke.
The post, put up Wichitan Derek Nguyen at around 5:30 p.m. on Monday, showed a photo of an In-N-Out Burger restaurant under construction. Signs posted on the fence read “In-N-Out Burger: Here soon” and “Now Hiring.” Nguyen wrote, “East side on Greenwich is coming up!! Dave and Buster coming and now IN N OUT?! Cheat meal baby!”
Nguyen even shared an exact location. He snapped the picture right by the Wichita Sports Forum, he said.
The post quickly went crazy and was shared more than 2,000 times. People who read the post commented with excitement.
“OMG, I can’t wait!?”
“Where on Greenwich?”
I got several messages from readers on Monday evening asking me to confirm the news. After a quick reverse image search, I found that the same photo Nguyen had shared accompanied a story from April 1, 2017, about In-N-Out coming to McAllen, Texas. (Also not true.) I tried to calm as many excited burger fans as I could, but the story kept spreading.
The Eagle’s analytics this morning show that people have been searching online all night and all morning for information about In-N-Out and Wichita.
Just to be careful, I confirmed with the developers of Greenwich Place, where the Wichita Sports Forum is and where Dave & Busters really is being built, that In-And-Out was not coming there. Nope.
On Tuesday morning, a contrite(ish) Nguyen has admitted to his dastardly deed.
“Man...I did not know my post was gonna go viral like that,” he wrote early this morning. “I’m so sorry for breaking everybody’s heart about IN-N-OUT burger coming to Wichita Kansas. APRIL FOOLS.”
Contacted later on Tuesday, Nguyen said he was scrolling through Facebook when he saw the photo. On an impulse, he shared it and decided he could really fool people if he said it was happening at Greenwich Place, where lots of construction is going on anyway.
He was surprised how many people fell for it, he said.
“I didn’t see that coming at all,” he said. “I was very surprised. It was just for friends.”
Similar prank In-N-Out posts on Monday also fooled people in New York City and in Overland Park, where a hoaxer used the same photo that Nguyen did.
The story reminded me of a similar hoax that spread in 2017 about Whataburger coming to town.
Poor Wichita. People are always messing with us and our burger fantasies.
Maybe someday.
This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 9:00 AM.
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