In-N-Out President and Owner Lynsi Snyder said the chain’s New Mexico debut “will be soon,” but the phrase does not come with an opening date. The Albuquerque Journal reported that none of the three planned Albuquerque restaurants had begun construction at the time of its report, despite different levels of permit and planning progress.
Three sites, three steps in the process
At the proposed Coors Boulevard restaurant in the Oxbow Center development, the Journal reported that a building permit had been issued. The site is planned for a 5,716-square-foot restaurant with a drive-thru. Planning documents cited by the paper set June 2027 as a construction-completion target there; they do not establish an opening date.
The Gibson Boulevard location, west of a fire station, also had a building permit issued, according to the Journal. The proposed restaurant is 3,886 square feet and includes a drive-thru. At Cottonwood Mall, the restaurant is planned for the Dillard’s parking lot; KOB 4 reported that the city’s Environmental Planning Commission approved its plans. A planning approval is a different milestone from a building permit, and neither by itself demonstrates that construction has started.
Progress is not a schedule
The Journal reported that In-N-Out had no timing update in late October. Its Director of Real Estate Matt Loevenguth told the paper that building and opening a restaurant typically takes about nine months once construction begins. That general estimate, alongside the Coors construction target, offers context for the work ahead—but does not confirm when any Albuquerque location will open.
The company’s past rollouts show that locations in a new market can open together, but they do not predict the New Mexico schedule. In-N-Out’s official history says its first two Texas restaurants opened on the same day, May 11, 2011, in Allen and Frisco. Albuquerque’s sites still have their own approval and construction paths, and the company has not announced an opening date for them.
For now, “will be soon” remains a broad description rather than a calendar commitment: the reported permit and planning milestones mark progress, while the start of construction and the opening dates remain unknown.
