A popular burger chain is trying again to win Buellton’s blessing for a new drive-through proposal.
In 2023, In-N-Out’s plan to bring a new restaurant to town—on McMurray Road next to a McDonald’s—fell through after the Buellton City Council nixed it due to traffic congestion concerns.
With a new address in mind, at the corner of Rufus T. Buell Drive and McMurray, In-N-Out is hoping an upcoming transportation study of the site will put city officials’ traffic worries to rest.
Now in its conceptual review phase, the project went before the Buellton Planning Commission on April 2. There was a sole public speaker at the hearing: Adam Firestone, co-founder of Firestone Walker.
His Buellton brewery is across the street from the spot In-N-Out is eyeing.
“The stacking of traffic at some of the restaurants—I’ve driven by them—can go all the way to the end of town,” Firestone said. “I hope the traffic study [asks questions] like: What percentage of the business is drive-through. I don’t know, that might be a corporate secret they don’t tell us, but maybe they will.”
He encouraged the Planning Commission to “push back” on anything attached to the In-N-Out project that seems inconsistent with the area’s contemporary ranch-style neighborhood character, “so we don’t get bulldozed into just another franchise chain town, because we don’t need that.”
“My reading of the tea leaves is this may go through. And if it does, then this burden is going to fall on you five, … to try to maintain those standards,” Firestone told the commissioners. “I know In-N-Out has brand standards, and they’re going to want to do what they want to do.
“But there’s been some examples in the chain,” he continued, “where really fast-thinking folks like you guys have been able to pressure and maintain things, like, … coloring. … Earth tones instead of bright whites.”
Buellton Planning Commissioner Daniel Contreras said that he was reminded of Westlake Village’s In-N-Out building, known for its use of stonework and natural tile designs to match neighboring shops.
“They were able to kind of do the same thing where their design standards were upheld versus the In-N-Out white tone that is the standard, a plug-and-play type of deal,” Contreras said. “I hope the In-N-Out development team takes note that they’re coming into a very specific place. We’re not Santa Maria. We’re not Santa Barbara. We’re our own little jewel in the valley.
“And as much as we want your business,” Contreras continued, “and as much as we want that livelihood, we also want to keep some character within our charm here.”
Buellton City Manager Scott Wolfe—who worked for the city of Westlake Village during the development of its In-N-Out, established in 2014—told the Sun that the recent conceptual review hearing served “to give the applicant an opportunity to pick off the low-hanging fruit of changes before we really dig into it.”
“In-N-Out is early enough in the process that … the plans that they gave us showed their prototype building with no real architecture attached to it,” Wolfe said. “They’ll submit new plans with architecture, and we’ll work with them to see if we can get them to meet what our standards are. I’m encouraged by comments In-N-Out has had in our discussions that they’ll be able to work with us, and we’ll find something that works for both parties.”
This article appears in April 9 – April 16, 2026.