Meet In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder, who worked kitchen shifts at the chain as a teen because she didn’t want ‘special treatment’ – then became one of the youngest female billionaires in the US

Apr 14, 2024

In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder started out working kitchen shifts at her family’s fast food chain as a teen. Photo: Getty Images

Snyder became one of the youngest female billionaires in the US when she was promoted to president of the family business in 2010 aged 27, before gaining full control of the fast food chain in 2017

The 41-year-old’s rapid rise through In-N-Out, which was founded by her grandparents, was largely due to a series of deaths and internal legal drama – today the chain has plans to expand to more states

Billionaire In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder said she started out working shifts at the cult West Coast burger chain as a teenager because she wanted to be respected.

“I think that there’s a stigma that can come with being, you know, the owner’s kid, and just wanting to be respected, like others, doing it the right way, and not having the special treatment,” Snyder told NBC’s Today of her application to work at one of the chain’s restaurants in Redding, California.

An outlet of In-N-Out Burger chain in the US. Photo: Getty Images

Snyder started working at In-N-Out as an associate in 1999, the year she turned 17. Her roles included serving customers and prepping food, she wrote in her book, The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger. By the time she was 24, Snyder was working as a manager at the chain, she told Orange Coast Magazine.

Snyder became president of the privately run family business in 2010 aged 27, and she gained full control of the company in 2017. With this, Snyder became one of the youngest female billionaires in the country. Forbes put her net worth at US$6.7 billion as of April.

In-N-Out Burger billionaire heiress Lynsi Snyder. Photo: @ethanpines/Instagram

Some of the world’s biggest companies remain controlled by their founders’ families, leading to recent discourse about “nepo babies”. Bernard Arnault, for example, has given his children important roles at his luxury conglomerate LVMH. His eldest child, Delphine Arnault, is the CEO of Dior. But some business leaders have made it clear that their kids won’t automatically inherit their parents’ empires and success.

Mark Smucker, the CEO of J. M. Smucker, recently told Fortune that he had to earn his role and that members of the family wanting to work at the food company need to have experience working at another company “no matter what”.

Meet In-N-Out Burger heiress Lynsi Snyder, who worked kitchen shifts at the chain as a teen because she didn’t want ‘special treatment’ – then became one of the youngest female billionaires in the US

How did Lynsi Snyder become the CEO of In-N-Out Burger?