In-N-Out’s billionaire heiress says she stood in line for 2 hours to land a job at her own store when she was just a teenager to shake the ‘stigma of being the owner’s kid’ and ‘earn respect’
Lynsi Snyder, heiress to In-N-Out, worked her way up from an entry-level job at the chain to CEO, determined to earn respect on her own merit rather than relying on her family name. Under her leadership, In-N-Out expanded to 400 locations, maintained relatively low price increases despite rising costs, and upheld its deep-rooted California culture, all while Snyder embraced her own unique leadership style.
Lynsi Snyder may have become a billionaire on her 35th birthday, but the In-N-Out heiress was aways determined to earn her place in the business by gaining the respect of her peers.
Snyder took on the top job at her family’s West Coast chain in 2010 at age 27, leading the business founded by her grandparents in 1948.
After Snyder’s grandfather, Harry Snyder, died in December 1976, the business was led by his sons Rich and Guy.
However Rich Snyder—Lynsi’s uncle—died in a plane crash in Orange County in 1993, followed by the death of her father in 1999. At the age of 17, Lynsi Snyder was the last blood relative surviving of the burger dynasty.
But the businesswoman, now 42, never wanted to be handed any opportunities courtesy of her surname. So at age 17, she queued up for two hours outside a new In-N-Out restaurant in Redding, Calif., to land a summer job at the chain.
“I think that there’s a stigma that can come with being the owner’s kid,” Snyder told NBC’s Today and Morning News Now last year. “I just wanted to be respected like others, doing it the right way and not having the special treatment.”
Her first job at In-N-Out saw Snyder doing the minor jobs expected of new staff: slicing onions, preparing tomatoes, and separating lettuce leaves. No one knew Snyder’s identity at the store except its manager, the heiress told Orange Coast Magazine in 2014, ensuring she was treated the same by her colleagues as any other teenager.
In 2025 Snyder’s net worth stands at $7.3 billion, per Forbes, having overseen the opening of the chain’s 400th store and launched in three new states: Colorado, Oregon, and Texas.
More recently the business announced it will be returning to its roots when it relocates its headquarters from Irvine, Orange County, and will return to Baldwin Park where the business was founded in the 1940s. The move will take place in 2029.
As part of the move some staff will also be moving to new offices in Tennessee, as the brand seeks to consolidate its western operations and its East Coast operations.
Her family’s painful history is never out of mind for Snyder, a mother of four, she added to NBC: “It really was that family pain and tragedy that really put each leader in its place.”
In homage to her family, Snyder also oversaw the construction of a replica of In-N-Out’s first-ever restaurant in Baldwin Park, Calif., which opened in 2014.
In the early days of leading the business, Snyder said she struggled to establish her identity within the family-founded behemoth that employs more than 27,000 people.
“In the earlier days I actually wore pantsuits, and I did that because I felt like I was supposed to,” Snyder added.
A flick through Snyder’s interviews and Instagram illustrate the In-N-Out owner is anything but the suit-wearing board executive who keeps her work and home life separate.
A musician and fan of drag racing, Snyder oversaw the formation of In-N-Out’s “company band,” a rock group called .48 Special. The Snyders—right back to Harry—have always been avid fans of California’s car culture and in 2023 began a multiyear partnership with the National Hot Rod Association.
Snyder, now often pictured in heart-shaped sunglasses and plaid flannel shirts, continued: “And then I finally was confident in who I am and who I’m not. You’re going to get judged either way, so you might as well be judged for being who you are.”
Lynsi Torres, the CEO, President, and first granddaughter to In-N-Out. (Photo by Leonard Ortiz/Digital First Media/Orange County Register via Getty Images)
The California institution has also become home to viral meme culture in recent years, courtesy of celebrities grabbing a burger following awards shows and events. Last year, Billions actor Paul Giamatti was pictured in a suit and bow tie at an In-N-Out, with the Golden Globe award he had won that night nestled among his burger and fries.
Entrepreneur Kim Kardashian and her family have also been known to pop into restaurants, bedecked in designer sunglasses and feathers, while the brand’s burgers have become a staple of Oscar after-parties to the extent that famed director Steven Spielberg took photos of his meal.
When California’s minimum wage laws increased last year many restaurants, including burger chains, warned they may have to hike prices to cover the cost of doing business.
The issue adds to other price pressures for consumers facing widespread inflation, continued heat in the housing market and market disruption as a result of policy changes out of the White House.
At the time Snyder said she didn’t want her company to add to that burden: “I was sitting in VP meetings, going toe-to-toe saying, ‘We can’t raise the prices that much—we can’t,’ because I felt such an obligation to look out for our customers.
“When everyone else was taking these jumps, we weren’t,” she noted.
According to an investigation from the New York Post published in 2024, In-N-Out’s price increases following the California wage bill were slimmer than those of others. The cost of its burger, per the Post, increased by 25 cents, while soda increased by five cents.
Other businesses were forced to answer to customers who were unimpressed by their growing prices. In February last year McDonald’s CEO Chris Kempczinski pledged to focus on affordability, saying during an earnings call: “I think what you’re going to see as you head into 2024 is probably more attention to what I would describe as affordability.
“Eating at home has become more affordable. The battleground is certainly with that low-income consumer.”
Meanwhile at Yum Brands, which owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, CFO Chris Turner told Reuters the business is “able to serve customers at any part of the economic strata,” with new customers trading down from more expensive chains to Yum’s more budget-friendly alternatives.
A version of this story originally published on Fortune.com on April 11, 2024.
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