In-N-Out Burger
In-N-Out Burgers, doing business as In-N-Out Burger, is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California and to a lesser extent the West Coast and Southwest. It was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry and Esther Snyder. The chain is headquartered in Irvine, California, and has expanded outside Southern California into the rest of California, as well as into Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Washington, and Tennessee, and is planning expansion into New Mexico. The current owner is Lynsi Snyder, the Snyders' only grandchild.
As the chain has expanded, it has opened several distribution centers in addition to its original Baldwin Park location. The new facilities, located in Lathrop, California; Phoenix, Arizona; Draper, Utah; Dallas, Texas; and Colorado Springs, Colorado, will provide for potential future expansion into other parts of the country.
In-N-Out Burger has chosen not to franchise its operations or go public; one reason is the prospect of food quality or customer consistency being compromised by excessively rapid business growth. The In-N-Out restaurant chain has developed a highly loyal customer base, and has been rated as one of the top fast food restaurants in several customer satisfaction surveys.
History
First generation
In-N-Out Burger's first location was opened in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by the Snyders at the southwest corner of what is now the intersection of Interstate 10 and Francisquito Avenue. The restaurant was the first drive-thru hamburger stand in California, allowing drivers to place orders via a two-way speaker system. This was a new and unique idea, since in post-World War II California, carhops were used to take orders and serve food.In 1951, a second In-N-Out was opened in Covina, California, west of the intersection of Grand Avenue and Arrow Highway. The company remained a relatively small Southern California chain until the 1970s. The Snyders managed their first restaurants closely to ensure quality was maintained. The chain had 18 restaurants when Harry Snyder died in 1976, at the age of 63.
Second generation
In 1976, 24-year-old Rich Snyder became the company president after his father's death. Along with his brother Guy, Rich had begun working in his father's In-N-Outs at an early age. Over the next 20 years, the chain experienced a period of rapid growth under Rich's leadership, expanding to 93 restaurants. In June 1988, In-N-Out opened its 50th location, in Thousand Palms, California.The first location outside of the Los Angeles metropolitan area opened in San Diego County in 1990, the 57th location in the chain. In 1992, In-N-Out opened its first non-Southern California restaurant, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Its first Northern California location opened the following year in Modesto. Expansion then spread to Northern California, including the San Francisco Bay Area, while additional Las Vegas-area restaurants were added. After opening the 93rd In-N-Out store in Fresno, California, on December 15, 1993, Rich Snyder and four other passengers died in a plane crash on approach to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California.
Upon Rich Snyder's death, Guy Snyder assumed the presidency in January 1994 and continued the company's aggressive expansion until he died from an overdose of painkillers in 1999. Under his leadership, In-N-Out's 100th location was opened in Gilroy, California on November 10, 1994. He was president for nearly six years, expanding In-N-Out from 93 to 140 locations. His mother Esther subsequently took over the presidency.
21st century
With Esther Snyder's death in 2006 at the age of 86, the presidency passed to Mark Taylor, former vice president of operations. Taylor became the company's fifth president and first non-family member to hold the position, although he did have ties to the family. The company's current heiress is Lynsi Snyder, daughter of Guy and only grandchild of Esther and Harry Snyder. Snyder, who was 23 years old and known as Lynsi Martinez at her grandmother's death, owns the company through a trust. She gained control of 50% of the company in 2012 when she turned 30, and nearly full control at 35 in May 2017.After participating in various roles in the company, Snyder assumed the presidency in 2010, becoming the company's sixth president. However, most major decisions are made by a seven-member executive team. Snyder does not intend to franchise nor sell and plans to pass on ownership of the company to her children.
In 2018, In-N-Out donated $25,000 to the California Republican Party. In 2021, it donated $40,000. In-N-Out COO Mark Taylor and his wife, Traci, have donated to Donald Trump's presidential campaigns. On January 24, 2024, In-N-Out announced the closure of its only store in Oakland, California, due to safety concerns related to crime, marking the first time in its 75-year history that the company has shut down a location.
Expansion
The company opened locations in Arizona in 2000 and added new restaurants in Reno, Sparks, and Carson City, Nevada, in late 2004. In-N-Out became a huge success in these new locations. In late December 2005, In-N-Out's 200th location was opened in Temecula, California. In 2007, it opened its first restaurant in Tucson, Arizona. The store opening broke company records for the most burgers sold in one day and the most sold in one week.In 2008, In-N-Out expanded into a fourth state by opening a location in Washington, Utah, a suburb of St. George. By late 2009, the chain expanded into northern Utah with three new locations situated in Draper, American Fork, and Orem. More locations opened in the spring of 2010 in West Valley City, West Jordan, Centerville, and Riverton. In 2013, In-N-Out opened a distribution center in Las Vegas to serve mountain area restaurants.
Image:InNOutFrisco.jpg|thumb|247x247px|In-N-Out Burger in Frisco, Texas, one of the first locations to open in Texas
In May 2010, In-N-Out announced plans to open new spots into Texas, specifically within the Dallas–Fort Worth area with the first In-N-Out opening in Frisco and Allen on May 11, 2011. The chain opened its first location in Austin in December 2013. There are 18 restaurant locations in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, and four in the Austin area. These new locations in Texas required the company to build a new patty production facility and distribution center in the state, according to company vice president Carl Van Fleet. In March 2014, the company confirmed its first location in San Antonio. The fall of 2014 saw the restaurant open its 22nd Texas location in Killeen. On November 20, 2014, In-N-Out opened its first location in San Antonio followed by its first location in Waco in November 2015. In January 2017, In-N-Out announced plans to expand into Houston with multiple sites planned in the area, the first being in Stafford.
In January 2015, In-N-Out opened its 300th restaurant, which was located in Anaheim, California. At the time of the opening, the company had generated $558 million in annual sales and employed nearly 18,000 in California, Nevada, Utah, Texas, and Arizona. The company opened its first location in Oregon on September 9, 2015 in Medford. It is supplied from the Lathrop, California, distribution center completed in 2006. President Lynsi Snyder stated during the opening that they will continue to open new spots. A second Oregon location was under construction in Grants Pass during September 2017. On August 21, 2018, In-N-Out announced plans to open a location in the Willamette Valley in Keizer. This was the company's northernmost location.
On November 30, 2017, the company announced plans to build a production facility and distribution center in Colorado Springs, ahead of an expansion into Colorado, which is scheduled to be completed in 2021. The first Colorado locations opened in Colorado Springs and Aurora on November 20, 2020. In-N-Out received approval for a new distribution center to open in Chino, California, in 2020, taking some of the load off the long-standing Baldwin Park distribution center. The center opened later that year.
On November 24, 2020, In-N-Out signaled that it was in the early stages of opening a store in Idaho. The first store in the state opened in Meridian in December 2023. In-N-Out later expressed interest in opening additional stores in Boise and Nampa, as well as a second location in Meridian. The company pursued various locations around Portland, Oregon, which were rejected or stalled due to development issues; a location in Ridgefield, Washington, the first in Washington state, was announced in 2024. The location in Ridgefield, Washington opened on August 20, 2025, becoming the first in the state.
On January 10, 2023, Tennessee governor Bill Lee and In-N-Out president Lynsi Snyder announced that a new hub would be built in Franklin, Tennessee, to supply restaurants in the Southeast, beginning in the Nashville area. It is the company's first eastern hub and involved a $125.5 million investment. The first Nashville locations opened in December 2025. In-N-Out is planning to expand to New Mexico by 2027, with locations in Albuquerque. After expanding to New Mexico, In-N-Out will have a presence in every state in the Southwest.
Products
The In-N-Out menu consists of three burger varieties: hamburger, cheeseburger, and "Double-Double". French fries and fountain drinks are available, as well as three flavors of milkshakes. The hamburgers come with lettuce, tomato, with or without onions, and a sauce, which is called "spread".There are additional named items not on the menu, but available at every In-N-Out. These variations reside on the chain's "secret menu", though the menu is accessible on the company's website. These variations include 3×3, 4×4, Neapolitan shakes, grilled cheese sandwich, Protein Style, and Animal Style. Animal Style fries come with two slices of melted cheese, spread, and grilled onions on top. Whole or sliced chili peppers are also available by request. Both Protein and Animal Style are house specialties that the company has trademarked because of their association with the chain.
Until 2005, In-N-Out accommodated burger orders of any size by adding patties and slices of cheese at an additional cost. A particularly famous incident involving a 100×100 occurred in 2004. Once word got out of the massive sandwich, In-N-Out management disallowed anything larger than a 4×4. One can also order what is called a "Flying Dutchman" which consists of two meat patties and two slices of cheese by itself.
In January 2018, In-N-Out added hot chocolate with marshmallows, the first addition to the menu in fifteen years. However, it is not the first time it has appeared on the menu; it was previously served at the restaurants in its early years during the 1950s. The cocoa powder is provided by the Ghirardelli Chocolate Company.