FOUNDED: 1948 in Baldwin Park by Harry and Esther Snyder
KEY OC DATE: 1994—Opened its corporate headquarters in Irvine. Announced in 2025 that it will return to Baldwin Park by 2029, while also opening an East Coast office in Tennessee.
LEGACY LEADERSHIP: Founders Harry and Esther Snyder pioneered California’s first drive-thru hamburger stand and built In-N-Out around fresh ingredients, quality control and customer service. Harry refused to use frozen beef or microwaves, establishing standards that remain in place today. His granddaughter, Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, is the sole owner of the company today.
OC SIGNIFICANCE: In-N-Out is one of Southern California’s most iconic fast-food brands known for snaking lines at its drive-through restaurants—with loyalists known to drive hundreds of miles to satisfy their urge for a Double-Double or Animal Style Burger. It is OC’s third largest restaurant chain, with 2025 revenue of $2.6B from 430 locations.
DEFINING MOMENT: After Harry died in 1976, leadership passed to his 24-year-old son, Rich, who transformed In-N-Out from an 18-unit burger chain into a Southern California powerhouse. He grew the brand to 93 locations, including adding a store in Las Vegas—its first outside California. Rich, who lived in Newport Beach, was relocating the chain’s HQ from Baldwin Park to Irvine when he died in a 1993 plane crash at John Wayne Airport.
BY THE NUMBERS: More than 420 locations across multiple states.
QUOTABLE: “One person who truly understood what a hamburger was all about was my grandpa! His commitment to quality earned him the nickname, ‘Hamburger Harry’ among the butchers.” — Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson
FUN FACT: The iconic crossed palm trees featured at many In-N-Out locations were inspired by Harry’s favorite movie, “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World,” where hidden treasure lay beneath the “W-shaped” palms. Harry first planted the trees at an In-N-Out restaurant in 1972 as his own symbol of treasure.
