In the podcast interview, Snyder spoke about the business environment in California and recounted the clash the company had during the Covid pandemic with the city of San Francisco, which temporarily closed its indoor dining for refusing to check customers’ vaccination status.
“We were shut down for a brief moment, but it’s worth it,” said Snyder, whose company’s cups and packaging includes Bible verses as a “declaration” of the family’s faith. The chain also permanently closed its location in Oakland last year due to crime and safety concerns, the first time it had shuttered a restaurant in the company’s history.
‘There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here,’
The burger chain is keeping its headquarters in California, but is moving it from Irvine in Orange County to Baldwin Park, a suburb east of Los Angeles where Snyder’s grandparents started the company in 1948. The closely held firm has been maintaining offices in both locations, but will close the Irvine post by 2030, Snyder said.
Even with the expansion to Tennessee, Snyder said she plans to keep In-N-Out’s small footprint and doesn’t want to be on every corner or in every state. Currently, it operates more than 400 restaurants across eight states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado and Idaho. Tennessee is reachable, she said, thanks to a warehouse in Texas.
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“Florida has begged us, and we’re still saying no,” Snyder said. “The East Coast states, we’re still saying no.”
Bloomberg
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