Lynsi Snyder, president and owner of In-N-Out, recently moved her family to Tennessee, but reaffirmed that the iconic burger chain will never leave California. In an interview with actor Terry Crews that In-N-Out posted online, he was asked how the company will retain its California DNA as it expands into more states across the country. “This is where we started. It’s where we are now and it’s where we will always be,” Snyder responded. His grandparents opened the first In-N-Out in Southern California in 1948 and the business has gradually expanded to other parts of the state and other parts of the country. While it’s far from the largest chain, it retains a cult following that has helped its expansion as people who’ve moved out of California make pilgrimages when restaurants open in new states. But Snyder, who grew up in Northern California, revealed last year that she and her family were moving to Tennessee, saying that raising children was difficult in the state and that “doing business is not easy” there either. That raised fears that In-N-Out could leave California, prompting the burger heiress, worth an estimated $7.3 billion, to clarify that leaving the state doesn’t mean the company will too. In a video posted to his Instagram page last year, Snyder told his followers, “We are not leaving California or leaving our roots behind. Each of our locations is here to stay.” Still, there has been a corporate exodus from California to states like Texas, where Elon Musk moved the headquarters of Tesla and SpaceX. In-N-Out has also clashed with state authorities, such as when it refused to comply with officials and require customers to show proof of vaccination to make purchases during the pandemic. And the company reluctantly raised prices after California imposed higher minimum wages for fast-food workers in 2024. But during his latest interview, Snyder addressed fears about In-N-Out, which has headquarters in California and Tennessee. “There were rumors that ‘they’re going to close all their stores in California’. I wonder, where did this come from? That’s unimaginable. I can’t even imagine that: the dumbest business decision ever,” he said. Snyder added that In-N-Out continues to grow in California, with “many stores” located in other cities in the state. At the same time, the company has expanded into Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Tennessee. Snyder suggested that Mississippi, Arkansas and Oklahoma are being considered, and that New Mexico is also in the process. But he insisted that the company is taking a slow-and-steady growth approach that doesn’t compromise the quality of its food and the values of its grandparents, adding that In-N-Out won’t be able to accommodate all the requests to open a new location. As for his own family’s relocation to Tennessee, Snyder described it as “kind of a God thing” and said he originally wanted to move to Colorado because he loves the mountains. But her husband brought up the idea of going to Tennessee. Although they had already made plans, she recalled that “something just clicked.” “I felt it and then I started looking at it, just praying, and I said, ‘I think you’re right. I think that’s where we’re supposed to go,'” Snyder said.
