One of the very few things I miss about living on the West Coast was In-n-Out. My condolences to the family.
Posted on 08/06/2006 11:47:56 AM PDT by paulat
Matriarch of In-N-Out Burger dies at 86
Sun Aug 6, 2:40 AM ET
Esther L. Snyder, who with her husband founded the iconic West Coast restaurant chain In-N-Out Burger, died Friday. She was 86.
The family declined to release further details including the cause of death, said Bob Emmers of Sitrick and Company, which handles public relations for the chain.
Esther and Harry Snyder opened the first In-N-Out drive-through stand in Baldwin Park in 1948. In-N-Out now has 202 restaurants in California, Arizona and Nevada.
The Snyders' business plan was simple: Serve fresh burgers in a "two-way speaker" drive-through concept. While her husband ran the day-to-day operations, Snyder was in charge of the books and occasionally helped out in the kitchen by molding meat patties by hand and slicing tomatoes and onions.
"Mrs. Snyder showed us all how to be a great leader and businessperson," said Mark Taylor, In-N-Out vice president of operations, who will succeed Snyder as president. "She expected hard work from associates and in return she believed in rewarding them well and treating them as members of one family."
Snyder grew up in Sorento, Ill., and graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a zoology degree in 1947. She met her future husband while working as a manager in a Seattle restaurant.
The couple had two children, Guy and Rich, who ran the company at different times. When Harry Snyder died in 1976, Rich Snyder took charge of the burger chain. After Rich Snyder died in a 1993 plane crash, Guy Snyder led the company with his mother until his death six years later of an accidental drug overdose.
Snyder was reported to be in poor health according to a January lawsuit that accused Snyder's granddaughter of attempting to engineer a coup to force her out.
In-N-Out attorney Arnold Wensinger said the suit contained inaccuracies. It was settled in May, but the terms were not disclosed
LOL
I had my first one a couple weeks ago in Marin County, and it was delicious!
The family is fighting her as she wants to cut corners. Supposedly it would no longer be a "made to order" burger which no other fast food burger resto does now.
In-N-Out without the real lettuce, the real tomato, the real peeled potatoes is not the same.
I fear for In-N-Out.
Yup, without the fresh ingredients and it being "made to order", it just wouldn't be In-N-Out.
La Puente?? I grew up in Rowland Heights and must have moved before they built them so close.
I haven't had an In-N-Out burger in 15 years. It's about the only thing I miss from California.
Please God, they will start with Kentucky.
:::Sigh::: Well, if they're going to ruin it, I guess I'd rather not have them expand. But it IS a huge sacrifice for me to say that.
I know the feeling. I made my personal In-N-Out Burger discovery when I was in the Army and stationed in CA. Every day of the last week I was there, I ate a double-double for both lunch and dinner. I knew I was gonna miss that place. That was '95, to this day, I've never had any other burger that even comes close to being so good.
Lumping the double-double into the same category as a big mac just doesn't seem right.
Good gawd! I never new I could have been order a 4X4 instead of a double double!
Interested in splitting the gas/driving? We could leave on Friday evening and make it back in plenty of time for work on Monday. :)
IIRC, when actress Penelope Cruz was asked what she had to eat before
The Academy Awards a few years ago, she said "In-And-Out Burger; Double-Double."
Good enough for Ms. Cruz, good enough for me!
I see no reason it would be impossible to expand the chain greatly while still maintaining the quality.
But they would have to maintain private ownership while opening additional packing plants, keep the high comparative wages for employees, and all the other things that allowed them to build to where they are today. IMHO, this just isn't possible in a standard fast food franchise setup.
However, whoever owns the company could make a lot of money very quickly by going public, franchising and letting the quality go to hell. Here's hoping whoever is in control isn't thinking only about dollars in their pocket.
This is, BTW, one of the drawbacks of capitalism. Somebody can almost always make a lot of money by cheapening a superior product. It takes the market a while to catch on and during the lag you can get very, very rich.
The young heir, a girl that appears to be in her 20s, has the idea to expand. I hope there is a lot of thought before eroding their quality.
One of the very few things I miss about living on the West Coast was In-n-Out. My condolences to the family.
As I recall they had like John 3:16 stamped on the bottom of thier drink glasses. RIP Mrs Snyder
I grew up in a neighborhood about mid-way between the Baldwin Park and La Puente locations. Almost everytime we visit the west we make a pilgrimage to In-and-Out. Not only is it the best fast food burger, it's very reasonably priced and a great value.
A moment of silence for the founder of In-N-Out Burger. I might need to get a Double Double next Thursday.
LOL! Never had an In-N-Out Burger. The most "exotic" thing I've ever eaten was a burger from Jack in the Box.
Well, waint a minute. I did get someone's hard contact lens in a taco from Taco Bell once. Now THAT was fun, though I never did parlay that into my fortune...
As usual, I prefer to eat at home. :)
Ah! But I have a copycat recipe of the Double Double. If you made it and it was a little off you would never know. But it would still taste good. ;-)
That's what worries me. :(
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