In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder says the burger chain will always stay in California, and she called the idea of leaving the state the dumbest business decision ever. Snyder spoke in an interview with actor Terry Crews that In-N-Out posted online, and she was asked how the company will keep its California identity as it expands to more states. She answered, “This is where we started. It’s where we are now, and it’s where we will always be.”
Snyder moved her family to Tennessee last year, and that move raised questions about whether In-N-Out would follow her out of California. She said in the interview that she had heard rumours about the chain closing all its California stores, and she could not see where the idea came from. She said, “There were rumors about ‘they’re gonna close all their California stores.’ I’m like what where did this even come from? That’s unimaginable. I can’t even imagine that, dumbest business decision ever.”
Her grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, opened the first In-N-Out in Southern California in 1948. Snyder is the granddaughter of the founders, and she is president and owner of the company. Her fortune is estimated at 7.3 billion dollars. She said the company is still growing in California, with lots of stores planned in other cities across the state, and she told CBS in an interview this week, “We continue to grow in California. We have lots of stores slotted for future cities in California.”
The company now has headquarters in both California and Tennessee. Snyder announced her family’s planned move last year, saying California made raising children difficult and that doing business is not easy there. She later addressed the speculation in a video posted to her Instagram page, telling followers, “We’re not leaving California, or leaving our roots behind. Each one of our locations is here to stay.”
In-N-Out growth in California and beyond
In-N-Out has expanded from its California base to Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Washington and Tennessee. The chain is also looking at Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico for possible future expansion. Snyder said New Mexico has been waiting for the chain, and an Albuquerque restaurant is expected by 2027. The growth has been slow and careful, and Snyder said the company will expand without giving up the quality of its food or the values set by her grandparents.
California remains the centre of the business. The first restaurant opened there in 1948, and the state still holds a large share of the chain’s stores. Snyder said the company’s Californian identity remained central to its future.
In-N-Out and the rumours about leaving
The rumours about a California exit grew after Snyder moved her family to Tennessee and after the company opened a second headquarters there. Some readers took the family move as a sign that the business would follow, but Snyder has now said twice in public that it will not. Her Instagram video last year made the same point, and her interview with Crews repeated it in plainer terms. The company has not announced any plan to close California stores, and it has said it has more stores planned there.
In-N-Out has clashed with California authorities in the past, including over vaccine mandates, and it raised prices after California imposed higher minimum wages for fast food workers in 2024. Those disputes fed the idea that the chain might leave, but Snyder’s remarks cut against it. She said the chain would keep growing in California even as it opens stores in other states, and she described the idea of closing every California store as unimaginable.
In-N-Out owner on quality and slow growth
Snyder said the chain’s growth will stay deliberate, and she tied that pace to the quality of the food. The company has built its name on a short menu, fresh ingredients and stores that look much the same from one city to the next. That model has held since her grandparents opened the first stand in 1948, and she said it will not change as the chain moves into new states.
The interview with Crews was framed around the same question that has followed Snyder since her family move: how does a California chain stay Californian while it grows elsewhere? Her answer was that the state where the chain started will always be part of its story. In-N-Out has not set a date for its next California opening, but Snyder said the list of future cities in the state is long.