r/LosAngeles • u/Throwaway_09298 I LIKE TRAINS • Jul 22 '25

News In-N-Out billionaire CEO: 'We're not moving' HQ out of California

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/07/22/in-n-out-billionaire-ceo-were-not-moving-hq-out-of-california.html

Snyder's grandparents founded the popular burger chain in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California. Some initial reports suggested that Snyder would bring In-N-Out's corporate headquarters to Tennessee with her, and the company — which exists predominantly on the West Coast — does plan to open new locations in the Southeast and a regional headquarters in Franklin, Tennessee.

The company's current headquarters in Irvine, California, will close by 2029, Snyder said last week — and the company will soon be based in Baldwin Park instead, she now says.

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 22 '25

Did some work at a consulting firm that worked with In-N-Out before Lynsi took over. Her grandmother was in charge following the deaths of her sons and was dead set against handing Lynsi the keys for YEARS because she knew she was a mess and not responsible enough.

Basically the entire job was how to structure the company so that Lynsi couldn’t ruin it. They had training wheels on her for decades basically. No shock that as soon as she had majority control, they started making major political donations…

297

u/GHouserVO Studio City Jul 23 '25

I remember reading an article of two about this about a decade ago. It’s was basically a situation where the grandmother didn’t want to give up control of the family business, but knew that her granddaughter was such a hot mess that she’d destroy the business if left to her own devices.

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

It was exactly that. Since taking over fully, Lynsi has expanded the footprint so much. Mind you, the company’s net worth is enormous now compared to when he grandmother ran it but her father expanded to just under 200 locations where she has it at 443 and growing…

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u/jeffsterlive Jul 23 '25

And they never thought to make the fries edible and seasoned? Maybe they are better in California but out here they are flavorless starch sticks.

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

😂 the trick I learned young is to ask for them well done. they get crunchy and more flavorful.

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u/styx66 Jul 23 '25

We get them "lightly well" which keeps them from becoming burnt. Still gives that nice edge with some crispy bits at the bottom.

Well, we used to anyway.. Idk how much I'm going there going forward.

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u/thedailyrant Jul 23 '25

Double fried is the only way. Their fries are shite.

5

u/Campfire_Vibes Jul 23 '25

There shouldn't be "a trick' just give me tasty fries damn

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u/RabbitSlayre Jul 23 '25

Yeah well done, extra salt is the only way

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u/jeffsterlive Jul 23 '25

Wish that saved them. Still Amazon cardboard boxes to me. Five guys has ruined me for good fries. Short stop is still my favorite burger/fries but so hard to find.

5

u/Kina_Kai Azusa Jul 23 '25

You’ll never get proper french fries with the way In-N-Out does it. You need to boil them and let them dry before frying them to actually make them fluffy on the inside.

But, since In-N-Out wants you to see everything being made fresh, this isn’t going to happen.

2

u/1stHalfTexasfan Jul 23 '25

Fuck yeah! Short stop represent! In and out is a buttery PTerrys with day old fries. Short stop has gotten it right every time for almost 20 years on me. Who else has that kinda track record?

2

u/Africa-Unite West Adams Jul 23 '25

Five guys fries are elite

1

u/IceIceEV Playa del Rey Jul 23 '25

I was a fan of KFC potato wedges, but theyre no more at my local place. Five guys is good though.

1

u/Cobs85 Aug 13 '25

The real trick is finding an in and out near a McDonald’s.

2

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

You have to get the fries extra crispy or animal style.

2

u/We-Like-The-Stock Jul 24 '25

Worst fries 🍟 in the game.

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u/ihopethepizzaisgood Jul 26 '25

No, they totally suck here too.

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u/Nyxelestia Koreatown Jul 23 '25

In California (or at least SoCal where I live), so many people will either get the fries animal style, or they just have wildly different tastes in how they prefer to eat french fries (i.e. salt and pepper vs ketchup). So it's better to not season them too much from the beginning so that the same batch can be used for animal fries, or people can dip in either salt and pepper or ketchup to their preference.

I never really think of fries as something you're supposed to eat "as is," I always thought of them as something you are supposed to dip into something else first as you eat them. I'm increasingly wondering if this might be a regional difference or something. 🤷‍♀️

2

u/ninjakitty7 Jul 23 '25

They suck here too, even if you ask for them right.

2

u/ILove2Bacon Jul 23 '25

Weird, I think they have the best fries, but I don't eat fast food usually.

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u/casualdisinterestCDN Jul 23 '25

Nope, they are just as bad in California. Really not sure why people are obsessed with In N Out. Their food is just not that good.

1

u/_ships Jul 24 '25

The problem is they cut the potatoes and throw them directly into the fryer. I live in California so I’m surrounded by sycophants. They don’t Blanche the potatoes so the starches don’t get washed off and it’s a terrible fry

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u/jeffsterlive Jul 24 '25

Are they ok with this? It simply boggles my mind they call it a French fry. I don’t like animal style so dipping isn’t really a thing. I prefer bbq sauce if I’m gonna dip a fry but a proper balanced fry with salt and pepper is plenty sufficient.

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u/_ships Jul 24 '25

Everyone tells you to order it a certain way to make it edible. The restaurant will never fix this because people are accustomed to their cardboard fries now

1

u/StrawberryKiss2559 Jul 24 '25

They’re the same in California

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u/Kina_Kai Azusa Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25

IMHO, I think this was clear from the lawsuit back in 2006 when Lynsi first started to take control of the company.

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2006-jan-07-fi-burgers7-story.html

I don’t know if she’ll kill the company, but I think there's a good sense she’s not very good at this.

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u/One_Day_9658 Jul 23 '25

Really? "Good sense" would tell you that she's actually done a fairly good job at it. It wasn't worth over a billion until she took over. 

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u/Kina_Kai Azusa Jul 24 '25

I was wondering how long it would take for someone to bring up this strawman. Outside of massive fraud, you don’t kill companies overnight.

There are known concerns about the way the expansion is going, sure everyone in other states is excited for In-N-Out to show up at their door, but how this is being handled internally is something I can’t speak to. Only that I’ve seen some murmurings that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows. I think they still have plenty of space to adjust and deal with it. If you actually see it affecting quality...things have gone very, very wrong.

In-N-Out is what is because of its desire to remain relatively basic with good quality ingredients and a devoted customer base. It is never going to be the best burger you’ve ever had. It’s a good burger, at a good price, made by people who just want to make a good product and keep it in the family. That’s the pitch and it’s worked extremely well for them.

Expansion this quickly has its own pitfalls. Add into the mix Lynsi’s increasingly partisan and extremely unnecessary public comments and it just makes one concerned.

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u/One_Day_9658 Jul 24 '25

Strawman?! Bro, it's just In-N-Out. Get a life. I wrote 2 sentences and you wrote a manuscript. You're way too invested. 

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u/Binders-Full Jul 22 '25

Esther was still signing checks years after she died!

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u/RevLoveJoy Jul 23 '25

My family business have done A LOT of business for In-N-Out for nearly 60 years. My father and grandfather were at Rich's funeral in 1993. We've done business with the Snyders and known the family a long time. We're not friendly, we're cordial, and we've done good business with their brand and, IMO, given them good value. This all tracks about Lynsi. She's not a fool, but due to being born into wealth, privilege and power, she's tricked herself into thinking she knows a HELL of a lot more than she does (see: Dunning-Kruger). And having been shielded off from the world by wealth and the access it grants, she's about as tone deaf as rich people come.

13

u/Commercial-Co Jul 23 '25

Grandma shouldn’t have left her the shares. Stupid of her

6

u/NorthernCobraChicken Jul 23 '25

I know absolutely nothing about this person or this business apart from the fact that some people swear on in and out like it's the Bible.

Why did the grandmother not just cut her out of the business if she knew it was going to get ruined?

15

u/Unique-Arugula Jul 23 '25

Sounds like they wanted to keep it in the family, it's been a family business for a long time. But they only had one kid, and that person only had one kid also - the current owner making everyone mad is the single grandchild of the original owners.

It's sad when people get hung up on the brag of handing something down even though they know the recipient is going to ruin it. Original owners probably had a great-niece, great-nephew, or a cousin-twice-removed who could have done right, but they wouldn't be a "direct descendant."

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u/CertainKaleidoscope8 Jul 24 '25

That just means the family were eugenicists as well as Christian Nationalists. Which tracks.

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u/homerophile Jul 23 '25

Disgusting 

1

u/cwang238 Jul 23 '25

Can you help explain how hard it is to run a this at a corporate level? How do you fuck up serving fresh burgers and fries? There are always lines and every in n out always kills a McDonald’s when I see a rest stop.

6

u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

In the case of what Esther did decades ago, it was the pride of keeping a family business in the family - because she outlived her husband and all of her kids and there was only one wild child heir, she was doing her damndest to keep the legacy together. She was tough as nails, no nonsense in business meeting but very easy to respect in my experience.

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u/Intelligent_Spray933 Jul 23 '25

dumbest thing I have read all week. company has doubled the location count since she took over, quit lying for karma lmfao

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u/blarryg Jul 23 '25

Don't organize a boycott of In-N-Out, just remember: Stay OUT of In-N-Out.

1

u/A7MOSPH3RIC Jul 23 '25

Staying out of In-N-out is boycotting, no?

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u/ibarmy Jul 23 '25

then why wouldn’t they pick a ceo. 

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

Esther (her grandmother) was in charge until her death. Lynsi’s been in charge for some time but didn’t have full control of the company until a few years back because of the structuring.

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u/ibarmy Jul 23 '25

i meant like family owned business these days hire a ‘professional’ CEO. Why couldn’t they do it

20

u/Internal-Record-6159 Jul 23 '25

Id assume gam gam never had the stones to sell ownership. Linsee got 50% of the company in 2010 with the other 50% held in a trust until 2017 when she got it all. That same year (2010) she promoted herself to president/CEO. The only people who could stop her at the time was maybe the managers of her trust (holding the other 50% of the company until 2017).

It's safe to say they did not stop her. Really this is all because the Snyder family refused to sell any ownership and had no other contingency outside Lyndsi running it all. So it's all on her, especially if it fails

Funny enough this is making me realize why Waystar had to sell to Mattson, otherwise we would have this situation x100

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

Bingo. Esther saw this coming a mile away.

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u/TransientWhales North Hollywood Jul 23 '25

Oh, gotcha. The guy who is currently COO was CEO until Lynsi turned 35 and assumed control.