In-N-Out Is Not Coming to NYC, Please Calm Down

A Facebook event advertising an NYC pop-up for cult favorite West Coast burger chain In-N-Out has some 32,000 people interested in attending — but the company says it has nothing to do with it.

A rep for the chain says in a message that In-N-Out is not planning any events in New York. The organizer of the event, a group called “NYC Popups,” did not immediately respond to request for comment.

In-N-Out has previously done pop-ups in other cities, including London, Sydney, and Vancouver, where undreds of people have waited in line for hours to get a burger.

But this one is not affiliated with the popular restaurant, which prides itself on not using frozen ingredients for its burgers.

The Facebook event has been advertising free burgers and an NYC-edition t-shirt, a performance from several “special guests,” and art exhibitions in Soho next weekend. It does not say how it would be getting free burgers to the space or the purpose for the event. As of Monday, 8,500 said they were “going,” and 32,000 people said they were “interested.”

Lots of people posting on the page figured out that it’s not affiliated with the chain, and they were not pleased. “Is this some terrible prank meant to agonize California ex pats???” one person posted. “I hope you guys get bed bugs,” another said.

Update: In a statement, In-N-Out’s VP of operations Denny Warnick writes: “Unfortunately, the information in the Facebook posting about an In-N-Out pop-up in New York City on October 27 is simply not true. We understand that this news may be disappointing to some of your readers, and we hope that no one is inconvenienced by this apparent prank.”

Facebook food events go viral pretty quickly these days, so at least people are picking up that something fishy might be happening before the event actually takes place. People who bought tickets for a pizza festival that spread through Facebook were not so lucky; they showed up to find little pizza and ultimately had to fight for refunds.

Still, this In-N-Out event is advertising free burgers. Maybe someone’s just trolling people and will show up with Shake Shack?