The Triumph and Tragedy of In-N-Out s First Family

Replica of the first In-N-Out Burger || Photo by: Hadley Meares

Keep it real simple. Do one thing and do it the best you can. - Harry Snyder

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Today, the heart of In-N-Out Burger is still located in the same one-mile radius in Baldwin Park where the iconic restaurant began almost seventy years ago. A Mediterranean-style office complex dominates the appropriately named Hamburger Lane. In-N-Out University, where the company's managers are trained, stands in all its middle-class American glory in a parking lot next to the company store and a shiny In-N-Out Burger, which serves its legendary burgers and shakes to hungry Baldwin Park residents. The 10 Freeway, emblematic of the car culture that helped fast food restaurants flourish, looms overhead. On the other side of the freeway is a charming replica of the first, tiny In-N-Out Burger, started by a young couple in love during the post-war L.A. County boom, when anything and everything seemed possible.

They met cute in September 1947. Esther Johnson, a shy and smart recent college graduate and WWII WAVES veteran, was working as a manager at a restaurant at the Fort Lawton Base in Seattle, Washington. Harry Snyder, a tall, former serviceman who had spent much of his life in the food service industry, came to deliver boxes of sandwiches to Esther's restaurant. They soon married, and in early 1948 they took off for Southern California. According to journalist Stacy Perman, the two were a match made in heaven:

The pair seemed to complement each other perfectly. While Harry was tough and could be demanding, Esther, widely regarded as a gentle soul, did much to soften Harry's rougher edges. He had street sense, she was book smart. Where he was a maverick, a visionary, she was grounded, practical .They were both kindhearted souls who shared a generosity of spirit. Harry believed in his ability to create his own opportunities and Esther believed in Harry.

The Synders settled in Baldwin Park, a young, lively, rural village in the San Gabriel Valley, filled with cattle ranches, family-friendly trailer parks and small GI houses. The dream for In-N-Out was Harry's, who believed that what busy, modern Americans needed was a place people can get their sandwiches and go. On October 22, 1948, the newlyweds opened their first In-N-Out Burger, featuring a simple menu of burgers, french fries and soft drinks. At the beginning, Esther and Harry were the only employees. He cooked the food, she kept the books. Decades later, Esther recalled in her understated way, that many, cold, smoggy nights were spent during the first few months of operation, but it was worthwhile.

Classic cheeseburger and fries || Photo by: Wendy/Flickr/Creative Commons License

The stand was an immediate hit. Perman estimates that in their first month the Snyders sold around two thousand hamburgers. From the start, In-N-Out was different from its competitors in the nascent fast food industry. Harry abhorred cheap food. He wanted to take the lettuce off the ground, the tomato off the vine and the onion and prepare the burger fresh right now, his nephew Bob Meserve recalled. That was his goal.

Mr. Snyder stressed quality from the first day he opened for business, Esther remembered, no matter the price, he believed that the customer deserved the best product they could produce. Unlike most service industry establishments, the Snyders valued the employees they began to hire, and treated them like family. Many of these early employees would stay at In-N-Out for their entire careers. The small stand also featured what many believe to be the first automatic ordering system a two-way speaker box at the front of the gravel drive-thru.

The first automatic ordering system- a two-way speaker box || Photo by: Hadley Meares

The 1950s was a time of personal and professional expansion for the Snyders. In 1951, they opened their second location in Covina, and also had their first son, Guy. A year later, Esther gave birth to a second son, Rich. The boys, polar opposites almost from the start, would grow up helping at their parents' restaurants, and at the Irwindale Raceway, which Harry would own a stake in for a number of years. The family soon relocated to the upper-middle class enclave of San Dimas, but they were still very active in the Baldwin Park community. In-N-Out expanded slowly, since the Snyders refused to buy anything on credit or to franchise, and only opened in carefully picked locations, in what we now might term bedroom communities.

In-N-Out Burger's cachet grew throughout the 1950s and 60s. The original Baldwin Park store became a destination for celebrities like Lucille Ball and Bob Hope when travelling from Los Angeles to their second homes in Palm Springs. During the 50s, the hot-rod youth culture made In-N-Out Burger one of their primary hangouts, while the surfers ruled during the 1960s. By the time Harry died of lung cancer in 1976, there were 18 In-N-Out Burgers spread all across the Southland. The company's mystique was increased by their secrecy--the Snyders eschewed publicity and hardly ever gave interviews or released financial information--a practice that continues to this day.

In-N-Out ad from Autoclub magazine || Photo by: Jen/Flickr/Creative Commons License

The question of inheritance was a tricky one for the Snyder family. Rich, the younger son, was the clear heir apparent. Rich was the corporate type and Guy was the wild one, one friend explained. His parents' clear favorite, Rich was a friendly, upright, deeply conservative young man. He had started helping with the company finances at 17, often telling friends that he couldn'

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