In-n-Out burger fanatics 'offer £100 for food' after hundreds descend on pop-up stall causing mile-long queues

Desperate Londoners were paying £100 in an attempt to get an In-N-Out Burger today after hundreds queued for hours in “crazy” scenes at the pop-up restaurant.

Lines up to a mile long started forming at 8am this morning at the American chain’s a stall in Swiss Cottage, a full three hours before it opened.

Restaurant workers handed out gold wristbands to those guaranteed a burger but others, who were not so lucky, were left frantically paying people to give theirs up.

And some who arrived at 10am and got a wristband said they were still forced to wait over three hours before getting any food.

Long queues: Burger lovers joined five-hour queues to get their hands to sample In-N-Out Burger's offerings
Jamie Bullen

The company, which boasts a cult following, has been forced to apologise after angry and disappointed customers left empty-handed.

Amanda Grundy, 30, who arrived at 10.30am, said: "The burger was good and I glad I came but I wasn't blown away and they definitely should have had fries.

"The line to get in was pretty shocking. There were people offering to buy wristbands for £100.

"The whole thing is crazy but yes I did spend the day in a queue."

Some travelled from as far as Bournemouth to go to the stall despite it only being advertised through a small advert in a local paper.

Jane Wallis, 52, who came from Bournemouth with six friends who all missed out on a burger, described the process as a “farce” and was furious that customers had not been told about the wristband procedure beforehand.

And music student, Max Scardanelli, 19, added: "I've paid £20 and spent the day travelling up from Brighton only to be told I couldn't eat because I don't have a wristband.

"I'm very frustrated. This wasn't mentioned to me or advertised anywhere.

"This is just bad business. They should have known about the queues and got more stock in."

But Eric Billings, manager of special foreign events at In-N-Out Burger, argued that customers were disappointed because they had been “misled”.

Food fight: Max traveled up from Brighton this morning to get his hands on a burger

He said: "To the people who didn't get served today we apologise.

"I don't know if they were perhaps misled by a third-party but we were just a four-hour pop-up.

"I will take their comments back with me.”

Burger frenzy: Those who turned up at 10am had to wait three hours for food

He also denied there were only 200 burgers in stock at the pop-up, a rumour that had been floating around social media.

The company last made a four-hour appearance in the UK in 2012, with hundreds of people queueing outside a small cafe in Hendon, north London.

However, Roberto Trevisan, general manager of Estancia Brasil, who have rented their premises for the day, said he had not heard of the company.

He said: “I know it's an American company who are going to do some type of, well, American food. I have no idea which one.”

Mr Trevisan said than an events company, who hired the space, had told him to expect crowds.

He added: “They said they could get a lot of people in here. I know they'll be a lot of people around, that's what they told me. But they will do everything, security, the newspaper [advert], everything.”

The chain offers mountains of fast food including the 4x4 burger which features four beef patties and “Animal Style fries” - a mound of French fries, burger sauce, cheese and onions.

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