Opinion: Fast food restaurants a perfect fit in Indian Country

In-N-Out Burger, the quintessentially Californian burger chain, will open its first restaurant on tribal land in early 2014 at the Morongo Casino on the Morongo Indian Reservation on the heavily trafficked Interstate 10. The reservation lies 90 miles west of Los Angeles and 20 miles east of Palm Springs. Similarly, the Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma will open a Sonic restaurant on non-Indian land in Seneca, Missouri, about 10 miles from its Oklahoma reservation.

Fast-food restaurants have been noticeably lacking in Indian Country, primarily due to the lack of familiarity of restaurant franchises with tribal law. This is unfortunate as fast food is a perfect fit for tribal economic development. Fast-food restaurants are a magnet for highway traffic, bringing customers into the tribal business development that would otherwise not think to stop there. They complement tribally owned gas stations, gaming venues, and shopping centers with an inexpensive food alternative and bring in consistent revenue.