In-N-Out Burger was built for speed.
Founders Harry and Esther Snyder revolutionized the fast food world on Oct. 22, 1948 when they began serving customers on the go in Baldwin Park from a 10-by-10-foot hamburger stand in Baldwin Park, a Los Angeles County bedroom community that didn’t even have a freeway then.
The chain will mark its 75th anniversary on Oct. 22 with a 12-hour festival at the In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip in Pomona, surrounded by the racing cars the Snyder family adores. The event is sold out.
The history is related in a new book by their granddaughter Lynsi Snyder, who is now owner and president of the chain. It’s called “The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger.”
In-N-Out’s big innovation was built by Harry Snyder, a two-way intercom that allowed motorists to order food that would be ready for them when they reached the window.
In-N-Out started out about the same time that McDonald’s began its quick-service operation in San Bernardino. McDonald’s has grown to more than 38,000 locations worldwide, according to its franchising overview. In-N-Out, which has shunned franchising and prefers to remain a family operation, has 395 locations in seven states, California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon and Colorado. It will soon be eight with the construction of a hub in Tennessee announced by Lynsi Snyder in January.
Nevertheless, In-N-Out has a global reputation and has been praised by celebrity chefs such as Anthony Bourdain, Julia Child and Gordon Ramsay. A drive-thru near Los Angeles International Airport has actually become a destination for tourists who land there, according to a recent article in Blue Sky News, a publication of Pittsburgh International Airport.
Here’s a timeline of notable events in the chain’s history.
Sources include Lynsi Snyder’s book, reporter Stacy Perman’s 2010 book “In-N-Out Burger,” In-N-Out’s list of store openings, the In-N-Out website, newspaper and magazine articles and…
Read the full article here
