In 2017, Lynsi Snyder took full control of In-N-Out after she turned 35 in May of that year.
NHRA
Lynsi Snyder is In-N-Out Burger's billionaire owner and president.
She inherited control in 2017 and it remains a private, family-owned business.
The reclusive heiress has a $6.7 billion net worth. Here's what we know about her life and empire.
Lynsi Snyder became one of the youngest billionaires in the US when she inherited complete control of iconic Southern California burger chain In-N-Out in 2017.
Snyder is the only granddaughter and heir of Harry and Esther Snyder, who founded the first tiny burger stand Baldwin Park, California, in 1948. At age 23, she became the primary beneficiary of the burger dynasty; her rise to the top of the chain at such a young age was largely the result of the deaths of her family members and internal legal drama at the company.
Since becoming president of In-N-Out in 2010, she has expanded the chain to Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado. The chain is also planning stores in Tennessee.
Lynsi Snyder, 41, is the billionaire owner and president of In-N-Out Burger.
Lynsi Snyder, owner and president of In-N-Out Burger.
Rich Polk/Stringer/Getty Images
Her net worth is $6.7 billion as of April, according to Forbes.
Snyder became one of the youngest billionaires in the US when she inherited full control of In-N-Out in 2017. Despite outside pressures to go public or grow through franchising over the years, In-N-Out has remained a privately run family business since it was founded in Southern California by her grandparents, Harry and Esther Snyder, in 1948.
Snyder is a reclusive heiress. She has experienced several family tragedies that led to her gaining control of the chain at an early age. She makes public appearances on behalf of charities, but keeps a low profile with the media. Here's what we know about her life and the In-N-Out empire.
Snyder's grandparents Harry and Esther Snyder opened the first In-N-Out restaurant in 1948. A burger cost 25 cents.
Harry and Esther Snyder, shown with sons Rich and Guy.
In-N-Out
The Snyders opened the first In-N-Out in Baldwin Park, California, located East of Los Angeles, according to the company's corporate history.
The original Baldwin Park, California, burger stand was demolished decades ago to make room for a freeway.
A replica of the original In-N-Out burger stand and drive-thru.
Nancy Luna
The restaurant's two-way speaker drive-thru system was considered groundbreaking at the time, the Orange County Register reported in 2014.
Under Lynsi Snyder's leadership, In-N-Out unveiled a replica burger stand in 2014 near the original location.
Lynsi Snyder at the replica burger stand.
BTV/In-N-Out
Though you can't order a double-double or other food there, the stand does sell souvenirs.
"This is a really special spot for me," Snyder said at the time, according to the Register.
In 1976, cofounder Harry Snyder died.
Harry Snyder
CBS This Morning/YouTube
Lynsi Snyder's uncle, Rich Snyder, took over the company after Harry's death, CBS This Morning reported in 2015.
Rich Snyder ran the company until 1993, when he and another In-N-Out executive died in a plane crash.
The site of the plane crash.
CBS This Morning/YouTube
The day before the crash on approach to John Wayne Airport in Orange County, California, Rich Snyder had watched 10-year-old Lynsi perform in a pageant, KCET reported in 2016.
Rich Snyder's legacy continues, including on In-N-Out drink cups.
An In-N-Out drink cup.
YouTube
Today, if you look at the bottom of an In-N-Out soft-drink cup, you'll find a Bible verse.
"JOHN 3:16" is printed on the inside lip of every cold beverage cup.
The bottom of an In-N-Out drink cup.
Hollis Johnson/Business Insider
"Back in the late '80s, Rich Snyder put that on the bottom of the cup," Mark Taylor, the former president of In-N-Out, said in the 2010 interview with California's Gold. "He started it, and we're going to keep it on there."
Lynsi Snyder has also added references to the Bible to In-N-Out's fast food packaging.
The bottom of an In-N-Out fry container.
Nancy Luna
A devout Christian, Lynsi has added three more Bible verses to different restaurant products. She added Proverbs 24:16 to French fry containers, for example.
She also added Luke 6:35 to coffee cups.
A cup on In-N-Out coffee.
Nancy Luna
Around the holidays, patrons can also find Isaiah 9:6 printed on In-N-Out holiday cups.
Rich added the Bible references to the cups after his own religious conversion, Lynsi has said.
Lynsi is also a very religious person.
BTV/In-N-Out
"He had just accepted the Lord and wanted to put that little touch of his faith on our brand. It's a family business and will always be, and that's a family touch," Lynsi said about her uncle adding the Bible reference to In-N-Out's cups in a 2019 interview with the Christian Post.
During his tenure, Rich established In-N-Out University to train entry-level managers from all In-N-Out locations.
In-N-Out University in Southern California
Steven B./Foursquare
The "university" operated out of store No. 1 in Baldwin Park for years until it got its own building in 1984.
Lynsi's father, Guy Snyder, ran the company after Rich's death.
Guy Snyder at a restaurant opening.
CBS This Morning/YouTube
Guy ran the business between 1994 and 1999.
Lynsi began working as an associate at In-N-Out in 1999.
Guy Snyder.
CBS This Morning
Her father remained in charge of the company until 1999, when he died of a prescription-drug overdose. Lynsi was 17 at the time.
Guy had struggled with addiction for years, Lynsi has said.
Young Lynsi with Guy
CBS This Morning/YouTube
In a 2017 video interview, Lynsi said her father had a drug addiction and had been in and out of rehab facilities since she was 5 years old.
Her parents had divorced when she was 12 years old, she said.
Members of the Snyder family.
CBS This Morning
The divorce came after her father had had an affair, Lynsi said in the same interview.
Lynsi has talked about how the death of her father affected her decision-making as an adult.
Young Lynsi with her father.
"Jay Leno's Garage"/YouTube
"My world shattered," she said in the interview with non-profit multimedia company I Am Second. "After my dad died, there was no way I was going to be alone." She said she would jump from one man's arms right into the next. She has been divorced three times.
After her father's death, Snyder married her first husband.
Lynsi Snyder.
I Am Second/YouTube
She was 18 years old at the time.
The marriage didn't last long.
Lynsi Snyder.
I Am Second
"It wasn't right," she said. "I paid the price with a divorce and jumped right into the arms of someone else." Then, she said, she started smoking pot and abusing alcohol.
Lynsi turned to drugs and alcohol.
Lynsi Snyder
The Values Institute/YouTube
She said substance use was something she had wanted to stay away from because of her father's addiction, but she found herself using them as an adult.
Her second marriage dissolved within six years, she said.
Lynsi Snyder.
I Am Second
Snyder said had she worried she would "meet an early death" like her father. She eventually married for the second time, had two children, and later had an affair.
When the relationship broke down, "I couldn't feel like a bigger failure at that point," she said.
She wed a third time and had another child with a man she said married her for money and cheated on her.
Lynsi Snyder
Screengrab from LitbyMoonProductions on YouTube
"The first time he cheated on me I thought, 'Well, I deserve it,'" she said. "It was terrible." She said he'd been unfaithful for four years before they divorced.
In 2014, Lynsi married Sean Ellingson.
Lynsi Snyder and Sean Ellingson.
Azusa Pacific University - Chapels/YouTube
She told an audience at Azusa Pacific University that she met her soon-to-be fourth husband on the dating app Tinder.
She said the first conversation they had was about their mutual experience with addiction, politics, their spiritual lives, and what their goals were in 2014.
Lynsi Snyder and Sean Ellingson
BTV/In-N-Out
They both say they have finally found peace through religion, she said at the time.
Lynsi credits turning her life around to her faith.
Lynsi speaking at a church.
Army of Love/Facebook
She she told I Am Second that she ultimately decided to spend time with God and Jesus and that faith still guides her today.
Now she and her husband run a ministry called Army of Love.
The Army of Love logo
BTV/In-N-Out
Their mission is to "enlist, train, and equip an army of love" to help anyone in need of support.
Lynsi and Ellingson founded Slave 2 Nothing Foundation in 2016.
Lynsi Snyder
Azusa Pacific University - Chapels/YouTube
Slave 2 Nothing has the mission to free people from being enslaved to any person or substance. In 2022, Slave 2 Nothing granted a total of 101 awards totaling $2 million to nonprofits working in the states in which In-N-Out Burger operates.
In 2012, she bought a 4-acre Los Angeles County estate for $17.21 million.
The main house has 11 bedrooms, 13 bathrooms, an indoor batting cage, a movie theater, a game room, a chef's kitchen, and a gym.
The house.
Panton Real Estate Video Tours/YouTube
The grounds feature an infinity pool, a guest house, a tennis court, a basketball court, and two-hole golf course, the Times reported.
She moved out of the house in 2020.
The staircase at Lynsi Snyder's former house.
Panton Real Estate Video Tours/YouTube
In 2021, she sold the estate at a loss for $16.25 million, per the Times.
Snyder describes herself as an "organized, careful leader."
Lynsi Snyder
NHRA
At the same time, she says she's also a thrill-seeker, BI previously reported.
She's also a fan of an "adrenaline rush."
Snyder fire eating, which she often does during band performances as well as aerial routines.
BTV / In-N-Out
"I'm a lot like my dad, a little bit of a daredevil," she told Orange Coast Magazine in 2014. "I like an adrenaline rush. My dad took me to the racetrack for the first time when I was two or three ... Anything with a motor, that was in my blood."
In her free time, Snyder enjoys drag racing, a hobby she started when she was 18 years old.
Lynsi Snyder
NHRA
"I just love muscle cars," she told the National Hot Rod Association. "I love the whole sport. I think that it was kind of an escape and a hobby that was a lot of fun and a connection to my dad."
Snyder named her racing car the "Flying Dutch Fox."
The Flying Dutchman is the name of an In-N-Out secret menu item.
NHRA
The name is a tribute to her father, who had a car named the "Flying Dutchman," she told the National Hot Rod Association.
She also collects vintage cars.
Lynsi Snyder with Jay Leno.
Jay Leno's Garage/YouTube
Lynsi's collection includes a unique 1941 Willys Coupe, with about 1,000 horsepower, which used to belong to her dad, according to Jay Leno's Garage. A car like this can cost upward of $130,000.
Besides cars, Snyder also loves rock 'n roll.
Lynsi Snyder performing.
BTV/In-N-Out
She and her husband, Sean, play in the In-N-Out band, .48 Special, whose members are all company employees.
Lynsi performs vocals and plays bass and occasionally rhythm guitar.
Lynsi Snyder playing guitar
BTV/In-N-Out
Her husband, meanwhile, does some vocals and plays lead guitar and harmonica.
Around the time she started racing, Snyder was the target of two attempted kidnappings, she said.
Lynsi Snyder being interviewed
I Am Second
The first was when she was 17 and still in high school. The second time she was 24 and working as a manager at In-N-Out, per Orange Coast Magazine.
Lynsi was able to spot her would-be kidnappers the first time.
Lynsi Snyder
I Am Second/YouTube
"I ran across the highway," she told Orange Coast Magazine, adding that she was suspicious of her would-be kidnappers because "they had a van with boarded-up windows.
When asked about her plans for In-N-Out, Snyder told CBS she would never take the company public or franchise its restaurants.
Lynsi Snyder being interviewed in an In-N-Out restaurant
CBS
"The only reason we would do that is for the money, and I wouldn't do it," she said an interview with CBS This Morning.
Since becoming In-N-Out's president in 2010, Snyder has expanded In-N-Out's footprint to new states.
Cars line up for the Colorado opening of In-N-Out in February 2021.
Getty Images
Under her leadership, In-N-Out has opened stores in Texas, Oregon, Idaho, and Colorado.
In-N-Out has plans to bring the chain's famed Double-Double to Tennessee.
Lynsi Snyder holding a flag
BTV/In-N-Out
The company said in January 2023 that it would expand into Tennessee. It's still working on opening the stores.
The first restaurant in Tennessee is slated to open in 2025.
Lynsi Snyder with Tennessee officials.
BTV/In-N-Out
The store, near a planned office for the chain in Franklin, Tennessee, will open next year, the Tennessean reported. They will be In-N-Out's closest locations to the East Coast.
There was another unidentified state where In-N-Out considered opening up shop.
Lynsi Snyder holding a flag.
BTV/In-N-Out
She told The Tennessean: "We came here years ago, actually East of the Smokies, but came back out to Pigeon Forge and Nashville and fell in love. There was one other state definitely interested and wanting us there, but we chose Nashville."
Don't expect an In-N-Out restaurant on the East Coast, though.
An In-N-Out restaurant
Nancy Luna/Insider
The California chain will "probably never" expand to the East Coast while Lynsi is running the company, she told NBC's "Today" in April 2024.
Over the last decade, In-N-Out has added 102 restaurants. Of those, 64 opened after Snyder took control of the company.
An In-N-Out drive-thru lane.
Nancy Luna
When the Tennessee location opens, In-N-Out will have a presence in more than twice as many states as it did when Snyder became president in 2010.
Lynsi did make one nostalgic menu tweak in 2018 when she added hot cocoa.
Cups of In-N-Out hot cocoa
Nancy Luna
It was previously on the menu in the 1950s.
"I'm not sure how it fell off the menu but it's part of our culture and something special for kids, and I'm happy that we're bringing it back," Snyder told the Orange County Register.
Before that, the chain's last significant menu change had been more than 15 years earlier.
A menu at an In-N-Out restaurant.
Nancy Luna
That was when restaurants added lemonade, the Register reported.
Lynsi approved two new beverages for In-N-Out in December 2023.
Patties, buns, potatoes, vegetables, and everything else you can order from the restaurant are delivered to each location via trucks from In-N-Out distribution centers.
Trucks at an In-N-Out distribution center.
Google Maps
The company says nothing is ever frozen or microwaved, according to CBS This Morning.
Lynsi's memories of her family inform how she runs the business, she has said.
Lynsi Snyder hugging an In-N-Out employee
MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
"My heart is totally connected to this company because of my family, and the fact that they are not here — I have a strong tie to keep this the way they would want it," she told CBS.
The company's mission is "about the quality, the friendliness, and the cleanliness," she said.
Lynsi Snyder appearing on CBS
CBS This Morning/YouTube
"We keep it simple," she told CBS.
In 2018, Snyder was the face of the Forbes 400 wealthiest Americans list.
The Forbes 400 2018 cover.
Forbes
She was also the youngest woman in the group that year.
But Lynsi otherwise rarely appears on magazine covers or gives media interviews.
Snyder and her husband attend a press conference announcing the chain's entry into Tennessee.
BTV/In-N-Out
Her January 2023 trip to announce the Tennessee expansion marked a rare public appearance for Lynsi.
Snyder said that she shies away from interviews intentionally.
Lynsi Snyder
CBS This Morning/YouTube
"We want to do what we do best, and that's serve some good burgers to our customers. It's not about us here — it's about this," she told CBS in 2015, pointing to the restaurant behind her.
Still, Lynsi is active on Instagram, where she has nearly 68,000 followers.
Lynsi Snyder's Instagram
Screenshots of Snyder's Instagram
She posts updates about her charities, her In-N-Out family, her friends, her favorite foods, and brand swag.
Snyder released a book in October 2023 about the chain's 75-year history.
"The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger" book
Lynsi Snyder
"The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger" reveals "the true In-N-Out Story," from her grandparents' founding of the first store until today.
"I have waited so long to tell the true In-N-Out Story," Snyder wrote on her Instagram page ahead of the book's release.
The average manager at In-N-Out makes $180,000 a year, Snyder reveals in the book.
An In-N-Out restaurant
Nancy Luna/Insider
Snyder says in her new book that one secret to In-N-Out's success is its tradition of paying above-industry-standard wages.
"Yes, we pay well," she wrote.
Lynsi has said In-N-Out has limited menu price hikes even as employee wages have gone up.
In-N-Out restaurant workers
Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
"I was sitting in VP meetings going toe-to-toe, saying 'We can't raise the prices that much, we can't,'" she told NBC's "Today" in April 2024. "When everyone else was taking jumps, we weren't."
In-N-Out Burger celebrated its 75th anniversary with a festival in October at the newly named In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
A logo for a race featuring the In-N-Out logo
In-N-Out/NHRA
The company took over the naming rights of the legendary Southern California drag strip in time to host its anniversary celebration there. The 12-hour event attracted 23,000 people, the Daily Bulletin reported.
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