Editor’s Note: The following Leader Board is excerpted from Lynsi Snyder’s “The In-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger: The Inside Story of California’s First Drive-Thru and How It Became a Beloved Cultural Icon.” The Business Journal’s annual list of the largest restaurant chains with headquarters in Orange County begins on page 20; In-N-Out Burger ranks No. 3 with $2.1B in 2023 sales.
My grandfather Harry Snyder would make as many as 1,500 sandwiches for a Seattle shipyard in the late 1940s. It was there that he met my grandmother Esther and they married in 1948. When they moved from Washington to Los Angeles, you might think dropping everything to move a thousand miles south to start a new restaurant would worry the young bride.
“Not for one minute,” my grandmother told me. “If you were ever around Harry for any length of time, you just knew he would be successful at whatever he put his mind to.”
Los Angeles attracted my grandparents for a variety of reasons: plenty of agricultural land for growing fresh produce, vets relocating here after the war and the aerospace industry expanding. Also, Harry had grown up here, so he knew the area.
Harry raised $5,000 from an investor. On their first day in their Baldwin Park restaurant in 1948, they sold 57 burgers.
He believed that delicious burgers and fries, served fresh, fast and with a smile, would win the day. In that first month, they sold 2,000 burgers.
My knowledge of my grandfather is pieced together from family stories … he died six years before I was born.
In 1974, my Uncle Rich, who was only 24 years old, became president. When I was 11 years old, Rich was on a plane that crashed near John Wayne Airport. My grandmother became president, although it was an honorary title. My father Guy became EVP and chairman, essentially running the company. He had sobered up by then.
When I was 12, I was too young to go through the formal hiring process, but Dad agreed that I was ready to get in there like he’d done when he was a kid. So, there I was in the backroom washing dishes and doing produce prep.
Dad suffered from an incurable disease called porphyria. He knew he was dying and wanted to safeguard the family company. He said, “If I have anything to say about it, your grandkids will be able to enjoy Double-Doubles.”
One morning, I was on my way to school when Dad called. I remember talking to him briefly and rushing him off the phone, not wanting to be late for school. That was the last time I spoke with him.
He died in 1999 at the age of 48 from an overdose of hydrocodone.
My father’s death when I was 17 rocked me to my core. It felt like my best friend, protector and defender was gone. I met a pastor and his wife who helped me realize I would soon follow in my father’s footsteps and meet an early death if I didn’t get right with God.
I let go of the weed and alcohol but letting go of the guy was more difficult. I was so afraid to be alone … After my third failed marriage, I finally knew I needed to take some time and be alone … When I met Sean Ellingson, things were completely different … We just celebrated our ninth anniversary and we’re more in love than ever.
After Dad’s death, Grandma had a team of executives who kept the company running smoothly. When my grandmother died in 2006, I was 24—the same age as when Uncle Rich became president. Did I want to step up and be president? I was asked, but I said no. It wasn’t a question of commitment; it was a question of timing.
I was certainly active in the company. By that time, I apprenticed in almost every In-N-Out Burger department, including accounting, merchandising, carpentry, warehouse, fleet maintenance. But I had just been through the toughest year of my life.
I was grieving my grandmother’s death. I was pregnant with my twins. Our legal battle continued. I worked right up until the twins were born, then within a month I was back at work. I didn’t feel the timing was right to take on the biggest business challenge of my life.
With no direct Snyder heir available to lead the company, we started getting a lot of offers from investors who were interested in buying our company and taking it public, but we kept saying no.
There was no reason to sell the company other than money, and plenty of things are more important to us than dollars. Selling the company wasn’t my grandparents’ dream nor my uncle’s nor my father’s. And it certainly wasn’t mine.
The family and leadership team decided that Mark Taylor should lead the company as president, along with an excellent executive team of people I trust and respect. Mark is my brother-in-law, and he believes in the core values of In-N-Out in his heart. Mark did a terrific job. When he began in 2006, we had 202 stores. Four years later, we had 239 stores.
On Jan. 1, 2010, when I was 27, it was time to begin. Mark became the chief operating officer and I stepped into the role of president. People ask me if I felt ready. That’s hard to answer … But I think if you wait until you’re perfectly ready to do something, you’ll never do it.
I wish I could say it was easy from the start, but it wasn’t. I determined to love everyone, listen hard, depend on all I’d learned so far, ask for advice when needed and ultimately let God guide and defend me.
I began my tenure as president by asking: How can we make our In-N-Out family better?
In-N-Out has been wildly successful. No food at our stores is ever frozen, microwaved or warmed. The pillars of service are kept simple—quality, friendliness, cleanliness. We wanted to keep doing what we do best: serving great burgers.
In-N-Out reached a momentous milestone on Oct. 22, 2023—our 75th anniversary.
The thing that continually guides me is a straightforward question: What would my family want? We continue to receive regular offers to take In-N-Out Burger public or franchise it; for years, our stance has been a polite but firm no.
We’re not going to build new stores simply to make money. To maintain our high standards, we’re determined that every single In-N-Out Burger store will be within driving distance of one of our warehouses.
I’ve decided that what my family would want is to continue serving the In-N-Out way without compromise for another 75 years and beyond! God bless you!
Adapted from The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger. Copyright © 2023 by Lynsi Snyder. Published by Thomas Nelson. Available wherever books are sold.
