Billionaire In-N-Out Heiress Lynsi Snyder Reveals She’s Quitting California for Tennessee: ‘It’s Not Easy Here’
The billionaire heiress to the In-N-Out fortune has revealed that she is leaving California to move to Tennessee, citing the difficulties of raising a family and doing business in her home state as the primary reasons for her relocation.
Lynsi Snyder, 43, who is the granddaughter of the burger chain’s founders, Harry and Esther Snyder, was born and raised in California, where In-N-Out has been headquartered since it was launched in 1948.
However Snyder, who has four children and is married to Sean Ellingson, is now leaving California behind, revealing that In-N-Out is currently building a new office in Franklin, TN, where she plans to base her family, too.
The businesswoman, who became president of the popular fast-food chain in 2010 and now has an estimated net worth of $7.3 billion, explained during a new episode of Allie Beth Stuckey‘s “Relatable” podcast that it’s “not easy” living and working in California anymore.
“We’re building an office in Franklin, so I’m actually moving out there,” she revealed. “I really loved living in Northern California, and I’m so thankful that I grew up there because I think it changed a lot of who I am today. I think I would be different if I was raised in Southern California.
“There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business, it’s not easy here now.”
Elaborating on her frustrations with her home state, Snyder called attention to rising crime, which prompted In-N-Out to close its Oakland location in March 2024—the first time the company has shut down a restaurant in its decades-long history.
(YouTube/Allie Beth Stuckey)
(In-N-Out)
Snyder said the decision was made because Oakland had become too “dangerous” for In-N-Out’s staff to continue working safely.
She also hit out at the strict COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place in San Francisco—and which her company refused to adhere to, leading to its location in the city being temporarily shut down.
“There were so many pressures and just hoops we were having to jump through,” she said. “You’ve got to do this, you have to wear a mask, you’ve got to put this plastic thing up between us and our customers, and it was really terrible, you know.
“And I look back and I’m like, ‘Man, maybe we should have just pushed [back] even harder on some of that stuff and dealt with all of the legal backlash.'”
While Snyder was quick to call out the challenges of doing business in the Golden State, she noted that In-N-Out is not abandoning California altogether—although she revealed that the company will be consolidating its two existing offices in Irvine and Baldwin Park.
The move will see the Irvine location, where the business has been headquartered since 1994, moving back to Baldwin Park, where the very first In-N-Out location was opened in the 1940s.
In-N-Out’s Irvine location was originally opened by Snyder’s uncle, Rich Snyder, who took over the running of the company from his parents. He died in a plane crash in 1993, when control of the business passed to his brother, Snyder’s father, Gary Snyder.
Snyder said that her father always wanted to move the company’s main headquarters back to Baldwin Park, explaining that he never believed Irvine was an appropriate fit for the business.
“My uncle opened the office in Irvine … in the ‘90s,” she said. “When my dad came down to run the business, we had moved to Northern California. It was family over fighting with his brother and running the company.
“So when he came down and saw Irvine and all of that, [he] was just like, ‘This is not us. This is not our roots, this is not my dad,’ and he wanted to move everyone back to Baldwin Park. So he kind of did a hybrid. He moved a lot of people back to Baldwin Park, but Irvine continued on and continued to grow.
“My dad died a handful of years later, so he never got to bring everyone back here and close Irvine.
“So my vision for a long time has been to have these two offices under one roof.”
(Realtor.com)
(Realtor.com)
Snyder noted that the Irvine office is expected to close by 2030—explaining that they have pushed those plans back by a year, having originally hoped to shut down the location by 2029.
According to local Tennessee news outlet WKRN, In-N-Out broke ground on its Franklin headquarters in September—and is expecting to open its first restaurant there by 2026.
“This is a historic day for In-N-Out Burger. Breaking ground on this beautiful property is the first step in putting down roots in the state of Tennessee,” Snyder said at the time.
“We were drawn to the Volunteer State because of its commitment to quality, service, and family, and cannot wait to begin serving customers and communities by 2026.”
It marks a major milestone for the fast-food chain, which has long restricted its business operations to the West Coast exclusively, despite mounting pressure to open locations farther east.
However, Snyder insisted that the business currently has no plans to open an East Coast eatery, revealing that she has routinely rejected pleas from places like Florida to expand the company elsewhere, explaining that they are currently focusing on areas that can be supplied by existing warehouses.
“Florida has begged us and we’re still saying no. The East Coast states, we’re saying no. We are able to reach Tennessee from our Texas warehouse,” she went on. “Texas can reach some other states.”
Today, In-N-Out has locations in California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, and Idaho, according to its website, all of which are owned and operated by Snyder and her family.
Snyder, meanwhile, sold an expansive Bradbury estate at the end of 2021 for the sky-high price of $16.3 million—although she lost more than $1 million on the sale of the home, which she purchased for $17.4 million in 2012, according to records.
The property, which boasts 11 bedrooms and more than 18,600 square feet of space, is located just a short distance from In-N-Out’s headquarters at Baldwin Park and has an array of luxurious amenities.
In addition to the main residence, the property features a guest house, a cabana, and a recreation room, as well as a putting green, swimming pool, tennis court, and a basketball court.
Related Articles
Solve the daily Crossword
