Billionaire In-N-Out Burger Heiress Moves Out of California

Entrepreneur

6 days ago

In-N-Out President Lynsi Snyder, 43, grew up in California, but says raising a family and doing business in the state has been difficult.
In-N-Out Burger's president and owner is moving her family out of the state where the burger chain began.
Lynsi Snyder, 43, who has been president of In-N-Out since 2010, sat down for an episode of the podcast "Relatable," and said that she and her family are moving from her home state of California to Tennessee, where In-N-Out is opening a new office.
"We're building an office, so I'm actually moving out there," Snyder said on the podcast that aired on Friday. "There [are] a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business it's not easy here now."
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In January 2023, In-N-Out announced that it's opening its first East Coast restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, and building its first East Coast headquarters about 20 miles away in Franklin, which will cost $125 million to construct. The burger chain plans to spread across Tennessee, expanding to Chattanooga, Knoxville, and Memphis, opening more than a dozen locations.
In-N-Out is also opening new locations in Arizona, California, and Colorado this year and debuting its first location in Washington.
Snyder, who grew up in Northern California, said on the podcast that "the bulk" of In-N-Out stores are still going to be in the state, but that she is looking forward to having more of a footprint in Tennessee.
"It will be wonderful having an office out there, growing out there, and being able to have the family and other people's families out there," Snyder said on the podcast.
In-N-Out will also be consolidating its two existing California corporate offices, moving its Irvine headquarters to Baldwin Park, where the first In-N-Out location opened in the 1940s. Snyder disclosed on the podcast that the Irvine office will close by 2030 to complete the consolidation.
According to the California Department of Justice, the violent crime rate in the state increased 15.1% from 2018 to 2023. According to Statista, around 3,640 violent crimes per 100,000 residents were reported in Oakland, California, in 2023, making Oakland the most dangerous city in the U.S. that year. Snyder said last year that rising crime and "absolutely dangerous" conditions caused In-N-Out to shut down a restaurant in Oakland in March 2024, marking the first time in the burger chain's 77-year history that it had to shutter a restaurant.
Snyder said that the company closed the profitable Oakland location "for the safety of our associates," adding that "gunshots went through the store, there was a stabbing, there was a lot."
Related: In-N-Out Burger Is Opening New Locations Outside of California — Here's Where It's Going Next
Snyder's grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, founded In-N-Out in 1948 as a single drive-thru hamburger restaurant in Baldwin Park, California. Today, the company has grown to more than 400 locations that bring in $2.1 billion a year, according to consulting firm Technomic.
Snyder took over In-N-Out in 2017 at age 35 when she received the final portion of her inheritance that gave her 97% ownership of the company. She became one of the world's youngest billionaires in the process.
In-N-Out differentiates itself from competitors by vowing to never freeze ingredients and crafting fresh-to-order burgers. The company has also never franchised, remaining privately owned.
According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Snyder has a net worth of $7.32 billion, making her the 483rd richest person in the world.
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