In-N-Out Burger

by Stacy Perman

  “Inside, specially selected cow and steer chucks arrived”: Nancy Luna, “A Burger’s Journey,” Orange County Register, March 31, 2006.

  “The chain proudly proclaimed that it paid”: In-N-Out Burger corporate website, http://www.in-n-out.com/statement.asp.

  “After In-N-Out’s inspection, a team of skilled butchers boned and removed the meat.”: Edmund Newton, “Faithful Customers Have No Beef with In-N-Out Burger,” Los Angeles Times, September 16, 1990; Nancy Luna, “A Burger’s Journey,” Orange County Register, March 31, 2006.

  “the family-owned chain was selling more than 14 million burgers each year.”: Donald McAuliffe, “Family Affair,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, May 12, 1984.

  “Roughly two dozen local business executives”: “In-N-Out to Build New Warehouse,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 11, 1986.

  “In-N-Out was generating roughly $60 million in sales annually.”: Richard Martin, “In-N-Out Burgers Pulls Away from Drive-thru Only Focus,” Nation’s Restaurant News, June 19,1989.

  “put the figure closer to $73 million.”: Estimate provided by Technomic Inc.

  “The aims set forth by Harry Snyder since the founding of the company”: Aileen Pinheiro, comp., “In-N-Out Burger, Inc.: Esther L. Snyder,” The Heritage of Baldwin Park, vol. 1 (Dallas, Tex.: Taylor Publishing Co., 1981), 242.

  “Every investment banker in the country would love to take them public.”: Deborah Silver, “Burger Worship,” Restaurant & Institutions, November 1, 1999.

  “As early as 1986, Rich remarked that he had to deny the IPO rumor”: “In-N-Out to Build New Warehouse,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 11, 1986.

  “In-N-Out is a great vehicle to do something like that,”: Mark Sachs, “In-N-Out: A Short Menu Means Steady Growth,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 24, 1992.

  “On March 16, 1982, approximately three months after moving in,”: The Heritage of Baldwin Park, April 6, 1992, 2–4.

  “Come join us for an evening of fun,”: In-N-Out Burger and the Baldwin Park chamber of commerce invitation, September 27, 1990.

  “Rich tapped longtime friend Richard Boyd,”: In-N-Out v. Richard Boyd, Richard Boyd v. In-N-Out, BC345657, filed January 10, 2009, 9–10.

  CHAPTER 12

  “In 1961, McDonald’s had founded its own Hamburger University”: Ray Kroc with Robert Anderson, Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald’s (Chicago: H. Regnery, 1977), 126.

  “In 1983, the company moved from the Elk Grove Village”: John Love, McDonald’s: Behind the Arches, rev. ed. (New York: Bantam Books, 1995), 149.

  “The year that In-N-Out University was established, there were about thirty stores”: Donald McAuliffe, “Family Affair,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, May 12, 1984.

  “In contrast, during the first quarter of 1984 alone, McDonald’s had opened”: “Record Profits at McDonald’s,” Associated Press, April 24, 1994.

  “generating $8 billion annually.”: Eric Pace, “Ray A. Kroc dies at 81; Built McDonald’s Chain,” New York Times, January 15, 1984.

  “In-N-Out Burger was meeting the industry giant’s revenues on a store-to-store basis.”: Stacy Perman, “Fat Burger,” Los Angeles, February 2004.

  “the average In-N-Out location came ‘pretty close’ to the volume”: “In-N-Out to Build New Warehouse,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, February 11, 1986.

  “Before long, the company launched its own newsletter”: “A Legacy of Great Service,” Grapevine Gazette (Spring 2003), http://www.betternewsletter.com/newsletter/spring_2003.html.

  “In-N-Out could save a ‘ton of money’”: Donald McAuliffe, “Family Affair,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune,” May 12, 1984.

  “establishing an expansive set of benefits”: In-N-Out Burger corporate website, http://www.in-n-out.com.

  “the state of California raised its minimum wage”: California Department of Industrial Relations, “History of California Minimum Wage,” http://www.dir.ca.gov/Iwc/MinimumWageHistory.htm.

  “the Orange County Register called Rich Snyder”: Andre Mouchard, “Common Sense,” Orange County Register, December 17, 1993.

  “Rich had already boosted In-N-Out’s starting wages”: Ibid.

  “If you lose your workers, you lose your customers,”: Ibid.

  “Famously, around the time of President Nixon’s 1972 reelection campaign,”: John Love, McDonald’s: Behind the Arches, rev. ed. (New York: Bantam Books, 1995), 357.

  “The fast-food chain’s detractors were further angered”: Ibid.

  “February 2008, when starting pay for all new In-N-Out associates”: In-N-Out corporate website, http://www.in-n-out.com/employment_restaurant.asp.

  “Two years earlier, the chain raised its own minimum wage”: Morning Edition, NPR, October 18, 2006.

  “At the time, the minimum wage in the state of California was $6.50”: California Department of Industrial Relations, “History of California Minimum Wage,” http://www.dir.ca.gov/Iwc/MinimumWageHistory.htm.

  “By contrast Wal-Mart, a company with $375 billion in sales”: Wal-Mart sales for fiscal year ending January 31, 2008, from Wal-Mart, 2008 Annual Report & Proxy to Shareholders, April 22, 2008.

  “some ten times greater than In-N-Out’s annual revenue”: In-N-Out’s 2007 sales, $395 million, estimated by Technomic Inc.

  “was paying its full-time hourly workers $10.51,”: Jeffrey Goldberg, “Selling Wal-Mart,” New Yorker, April 2, 2007.

  “By 1989, top store managers earned about $63,000”: Ellen Paris, “Where Bob Hope Buys His Burgers,” Forbes, June 24, 1989.

  “We’re blessed with good employees,”: Richard Martin, “In-N-Out Pulls Away,” Nation’s Restaurant News, June 19 1989.

  “Some twenty years later, store managers were pulling in”: In-N-Out Burger corporate website, http://www.in-n-out.com/employment_mgmt.asp.

  “roughly 75 percent of employees staying on beyond six months.”: These figures are repeated in numerous places, including Robert W. Van Giezen, “Occupational Wages in the Fast-food Restaurant Industry,” Monthly Labor Review (August 1994).

  “In the case of In-N-Out Burger, its managers maintained”: In-N-Out corporate website, http://www.in-n-out.com/employment_mgmt.asp.

  “We try and maintain the highest quality level possible,”: Mark Sachs, “In-N-Out: A Short Menu Means Steady Growth,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 24, 1992.

  “I believe in you. You are the best.”: Rich Snyder Dedication DVD, Hillview Acres Children’s Home, Rich Snyder Cottage, October 30, 2007.

  “Times are tough,”: Ibid.

  “We want them to share some of their insights,”: John Brinsely, “Motivation and Money,” Los Angeles Business Journal, July 3, 2000.

  CHAPTER 13

  “In 1989, Forbes magazine featured In-N-Out”: Ellen Paris, “Where Bob Hope Buys His Burgers,” Forbes, June 24, 1989.

  “a group of eight San Francisco friends famously ordered”: The story of blogger What’s Up Willy and the famous 100 x 100 was first posted on his blog and then picked up widely elsewhere, http://whatupwilly.blogspot.com/2006/01/in-n-out–100x100.html.

  “gobbled down Double-Double burgers at the In-N-Out drive-through”: Nancy Verde Barr, Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child (Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley, 2007), 274.

  “minutes later I drove back ’round and got the same thing again”: Jill Scott, “Gordon Ramsay Admits Secret Passion for Fast Food Burgers,” Sunday Mail, April 20, 2008.

  “uncopyable advantage”: Paul Westra, a restaurant industry researcher for SG Cowen, quoted in Mike Steere, “A Timeless Recipe for Success,” Business 2.0, September 1, 2003.

  “The burger Goliaths doing business in Southern California”: Richard Martin, “In-N-Out’s Size No Measure of Its Stature,” Nation’s Restaurant News, May 7, 1984.

  “Reported estimates on In-N-Out’s advertising budget ranged”: Rebecca Flass, “T&O Group Triumphs in Review for In-N-Out Burger,” ADWEEK, July 31, 2001.

  “After appe
aring in over eight hundred commercials”: Douglas Martin, “Dave Thomas, 69, Wendy’s Founder, Dies,” New York Times, January 9, 2002.

  “the magazine reported that In-N-Out sold fifty-two thousand burgers per month.”: Ellen Paris, “Where Bob Hope Buys His Burgers,” Forbes, June 24, 1989.

  “A year earlier, in 1988, he had told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune,”: Brian H. Greene, “In-N-Out Eyes Opening Up in San Diego,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, October 22, 1988.

  “We aren’t striving to become a household name.”: Deborah Silver, “Burger Worship,” Restaurants & Institutions, November 1, 1999.

  “If you have to tell somebody you’re something, you’re probably not.”: Mike Steere, “A Timeless Recipe for Success,” Business 2.0, September 2003.

  CHAPTER 14

  “You believe in God and you still enjoyed science?”: Snyder family home movie; Esther Snyder, interview by Rich Snyder, circa early 1970s.

  “It began in 1965 as a congregation of about twenty-five parishioners”: “Brief History of the Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa,” http://www.calvarychapel.com/?page=about; Chuck Smith, “The Complete History of Calvary Chapel,” Last Times, (Fall 1998), http://www.calvarychapel.com/assets/pdf/LastTimes-Fall1981.pdf.

  “Smith was a leading figure in the grassroots ‘Jesus Movement.’”: David Di Sabatino, Jesus People Movement (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1999).

  “In time, the Calvary Chapel would boast over one thousand congregations”: Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa, http://www.calvarychapel.com/?page=about.

  “In 1984, they established the Child Abuse Fund”: In-N-Out Burger corporate website, “In Loving Memory of Esther Snyder,” http://www.in-n-out.com/esther/; In-N-Out Burger Foundation, http://www.in-n-out.com/foundation.asp.

  “Each April, canisters were placed in all of the chain’s stores”: “Burger Promotion Aids Abused Children,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, June 6, 1986; In-N-Out Burger Foundation, http://shop.in-n-out.com/innout/dept.asp?dept_id=110.

  “on June 6, 1986, a photograph in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune”: “Burger Promotion Aids Abused Children,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, June 6, 1986.

  “Over the years, the fund distributed millions of dollars.”: In-N-Out Burger corporate website, “In Loving Memory of Esther Snyder,” http://www.in-n-out.com/esther/.

  “Hamburgers are so popular,”: Stacy Perman, “Fat Burgers,” Los Angeles, February 2004.

  “It gets the Christian community pretty excited”: Tracy Weber, “Religion Is the Meat of Burger Chain’s Ad,” Orange County Register, December 24, 1991.

  “not everybody that listens to you is a Christian,”: Ibid.

  “It would be a real drag to die and be up in front of God”: Ibid.

  “In 1980, he backed Republican David Dreier”: http://newsmeat.com, aggregation of federal filing political contributions.

  “Soon Rich began contributing tens of thousands of dollars”: http://newsmeat.com, aggregation of federal filing political contributions.

  “When he was a child, she told him to always smile,”: Comments made by Esther Snyder during her eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).

  CHAPTER 15

  “He hired a specially outfitted passenger train”: Brian H. Greene, “In-N-Out Eyes Opening Up in San Diego,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, October 22, 1988.

  “His goal was to open the first San Diego–area In-N-Out”: Ibid.

  “San Diego is a totally new market area for us,”: Ibid.

  “Perhaps more important, scores of residents”: Sharon K. Gillenwater, “Burger Fixation,” San Diego, March 1990.

  “And the chain’s revenue,”: Sales figures estimated by Technomic Inc.; average growth rate calculated based on average from annual sales figures.

  “McDonald’s had about 8,576 domestic restaurants”: Store data compiled by Technomic Inc.

  “Why pay $2 million for a property”: Ellen Paris, “Where Bob Hope Buys His Burgers,” Forbes, June 24, 1989.

  “In-N-Out was classified as an S-Corporation,”: “Petition of co-trustee Richard Boyd,” In Re the Matter of Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, BP095380 (S.C. Calif. 2005), 16.

  “In fact, by the summer of 1989, the chain was selling twelve thousand T-shirts”: Ellen Paris, “Where Bob Hope Buys His Burgers,” Forbes, June 24, 1989.

  “On January 31, 1989, the Snyders established an irrevocable family trust:”: Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, January 31, 1989.

  “A separate trust, the Lynsi L. Snyder Trust, was set up”: Lynsi Snyder Trust–1989, January 31, 1989.

  “to make provision for my two sons and other lineal descendants,”: “Declaration of Esther L. Snyder in Support of Petition to Reform Trust Instrument to Conform to Trustor’s Intention,” In Re the Matter of Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, KP 005531 (S.C. Calif. 2000).

  “the Esther L. Snyder Trust was made up of 44,147 shares”: “Petition of co-trustee Richard Boyd,” In Re the Matter of Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, BP095380 (S.C. Calif. 2005),11.

  “The Lynsi Snyder Trust held 4,370 shares”: “Respondent and Counter-Petitioner Lynsi Martinez’s Verified Petition,” In Re the Matter of Lynsi Snyder Trust–1989, BP 095 640 (S.C. Calif. 2006), paragraph 19, page 4.

  “For purposes of this instrument, Traci Lynette Taylor and Terri Louise Perkins”: Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, January 31, 1989, paragraph 14.1.1, pages 29–30.

  “Rich was to receive 89.82224 percent”: Esther L. Snyder Trust–1989, January 31, 1989, paragraphs 5.1–5.15.3, pages 3–13.

  CHAPTER 16

  “Then, in 1990, PepsiCo purchased a six-year-old, Michigan-based double drive-through hamburger chain”: Eben Shapiro, “Coke and Pepsi Skirmishing in Restaurant Trade Press,” New York Times, May 8, 1992.

  “During the next seven years,”: “Onetime PepsiCo chain Hot ‘N Now sold for $17K,” Nation’s Restaurant News, March 14, 1005.

  “For those of us who don’t always go to the awards show,”: Late Show with David Letterman, CBS, http://www.ktnl.com/latenight/lateshow/wahoo/index/php/20041029. phtml.

  “in the company of such notables as Kenneth T. Derr,”: Donnie Radcliffe and Dana Thomas, “Night of the Dancing Bear,” Washington Post, June 17, 1992.

  “I love history, I love our country, and it was all there.”: Karen De Witt, “The Executive Life; A White House Dinner: The Thrill of a Lifetime,” New York Times, June 21 1992.

  “There we were, dancing with the President and Mrs. Bush,”: Ibid.

  “‘So that in years to come,’ he explained,”: Ibid.

  “Following Rich and Christina’s wedding,”: Richard Martin, “Top In-N-Out Burger Execs Killed in Calif. Plane Crash,” Nation’s Restaurant News, January 3, 1994.

  “Word reached the community through real estate circles”: Mark Sachs, “In-N-Out: A Short Menu Means Steady Growth,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 24, 1992.

  “In time, In-N-Out became one of Baldwin Park’s largest employers.”: Aileen Pinheiro, comp., The Heritage of Baldwin Park, vol. 2 (Covina, Ca.: Neilson Press, 1981), 81.

  “following the city council’s rejection of a proposal”: Steve Tamaya, “Neighbor’s Beef Dooms Hamburger Place,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 19, 1990.

  “Some 119 businesses”: Ibid.

  CHAPTER 17

  “In-N-Out was opening about ten new stores each year,”: Averages calculated from Technomic Inc. data.

  “In-N-Out Burger’s procedures that in December, the chain was granted”: Mark Kendall and Gillen Silsby, “In-N-Out Burger Chief Dies in Crash,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, December 17, 1993.

  “despite the company’s growth spurt, he had no interest in competing”: Mark Sachs, “In-N-Out: A Short Menu Means Steady Growth,” San Gabriel Valley Tribune, August 24, 1992.

  “I think it would be too difficult to maintain quality control.”: Ibid.

  “Yeah it’s cl
ose,”: Transcripts of the pilots’ conversation with control tower reported by Jeff Brazil, “O.C. Jet Crash Tape Indicates Pilot Knew Risk,” Los Angeles Times, July 9, 1994.

  “At Esther’s urging, he had gone to work for In-N-Out corporate”: Comments made by Esther Snyder during her eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).

  “in 1986 Sims launched a popular but controversial church”: Jodi Wilgoren, “Jet Crash Victims Eulogized Amid Tears, Smiles,” Los Angeles Times, December 24, 1993.

  “Rich considered West such a close friend that five days before the crash, on December 10, he had a trust drawn up”: Greg Johnson, “4 In-N-Out Burger Execs Sue Over Trust Language,” Los Angeles Times, July 17, 1996.

  “[Richard Snyder] was the type of person who did a lot more”: In-N-Out Burger company statement reported by Richard Martin, “Top In-N-Out Burger Execs Killed in Plane Crash,” Nation’s Restaurant News, January 3, 1994.

  “every month, Rich sent an In-N-Out cookout trailer to feed the homeless”: Rich Snyder Dedication DVD, Hillview Acres Children’s Home, Rich Snyder Cottage, October 30, 2007.

  “The ninety-three-store chain was pulling in about $116 million”: Technomic Inc.

  “‘That man,’ he said, holding back tears of his own, ‘was a legend in my mind.’”: Comments made by Don Miller during his eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).

  “Richard said, ‘Mom, I’m so glad you got to go with us today.’”: Comments made by Esther Snyder during her eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).

  “Right now, as our hearts are grieving, and we feel empty inside,”: Comments made by Christina Snyder Wright during her eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).

  “he alluded to the accident and spoke of ‘God’s work.’”: Comments made by Guy Snyder during his eulogy at memorial for Rich Snyder, Phil West, and Jack Sims, held at the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, December 23, 1993 (videotape).