In-N-Out President Comes Out Of Hiding, Speaks On The Secret To Successful Burgers

In-N-Out president Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson and the Snyder family has always stayed low-key, rarely making public appearances and certainly staying away from the media limelight, but Snyder actually came out for the grand opening of their In-N-Out store in Oregon this September and said a few things.

In an interview with CBS News, Snyder, 33,  talked about the burger joint’s success, why the company hasn’t gone public, and what her grandparents would think of the fast food restaurant’s success.

Check out the highlights from the CBS interview below, and the full video at the end of the story:

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Snyder on In-N-Out’s core:

“It’s about the quality, the friendliness, the cleanliness. We keep it simple.”

As generic of an answer as that might sound, it seems to hold true for In-N-Out as they’ve kept the stores centralized enough to never stray more than 600 miles from its distribution centers, so that things stay fresh. They also pay their employees pretty well. If you’ve ever had friends who work there, you know their smiles are abnormally big and they’re way too happy.

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On why the family has always stayed low-key:

“We don’t want to be in the spotlight. We don’t want a bunch of attention. We want to do what we do best and that’s serve good burgers to our customers. It’s not about us here.”

We’re starting to see a trend here. Snyder again preaches simplicity and just focusing on the restaurant instead of her ownership. A mood that seems to have a trickle down effect on its stores.

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On what her grandparents, founders Harry and Esther Snyder, would think of the restaurant’s growth:

“I think they would be amazed because they had no idea we would end up here.”

While the popularity of In-N-Out is evident, the restaurant only has 304 stores throughout six states. Compare that to McDonald’s which has over 14,000 stores worldwide.

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On In-N-Out franchising, or going public:

“Never. The only reason we’d ever do that is for the money, and I wouldn’t do it.”

It’s not the way grandpa and grandma Snyder would want their business run, and Lynsi seems to strongly believe in keeping things small. The company is worth upward of $1 billion, so it’s not doing too badly for being small.

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Lynsi gets complete control of the company in a couple years when she turns 35, and Forbes has said she’s likely the richest woman in her 30s.

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It looks like not much will change for In-N-Out in the future and we can consistently find delicious Double-Doubles and Animal Style fries.

Here’s a list of how to take advantage of everything on their menu, for all you In-N-Out newbs, and even some veteranos.