Book Review: In-N-Out Burger by Stacy Perman

Collins Business, $24.99 retail ISBN: 978-0-06-134671-2

After reviewing the heavily In-N-Out influenced Elevation Burger this week, I thought I would post about the next best thing for an East Coaster who doesn’t have readily access to an In-N-Out burger. I was excited when I received a review copy of In-N-Out Burger: A Behind-the-Counter Look at the Fast-Food Chain That Breaks All the Rules by Stacy Perman in the mail. I immediately set out to read it cover to cover as a fan interested in the history of the chain. This book provides an in-depth historical view of the In-N-Out franchise from its 1948 birth as a single hamburger stand in Baldwin Park, CA (in the San Gabriel region of the Los Angeles suburbs) to a well-admired regional burger chain with rabid followers. The book been issued under the Collins Business imprint which makes sense because it’s basically the biography of a company.

The cult of In-N-Out followers is addressed to a certain degree in the book, explaining the carnivalesque scene when a new In-N-Out opens in a previously deprived region in Arizona. Cars might be lined up for miles, preparing to wait hours in order to get a taste of the famous burgers and fries. I can definitely attest to their greatness. When I’ve visited California, my goal was always to eat as many times as possible at In-N-Out. There is the “secret” menu that everyone seems to know about (because it’s posted on their website) and my favorite things to order were the Double Double Animal Style and the Grilled Cheese Animal Style. Often, stops in more remote areas of California would have drive-through lines wrapped around the building, even at what I would consider to be less busy times (2pm on a weekday). I haven’t been to California in several years and this book reminded me on about every page how much I’ve missed those burgers. It’s clear that this just isn’t any burger, but something special. The book investigates its history, but also some of the reasons for In-N-Out’s success. The book is an easy read that takes the reader through the history of In-N-Out from the birth of the founders to the present day.

After they were married, Harry and Esther Snyder decided to head to Southern California and start their life together. Soon after arriving in California, Harry and Esther founded the original In-N-Out stand and ran the business together as a team. Incidentally, theirs was the first drive-through in California, possibly in America. Harry Snyder also invented a speakerphone to receive orders from customers in their cars. The fertility of Southern California car culture in the ’40s and early ’50s led to fast food innovation and the birth of several chains, including McDonald’s, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, and In-N-Out. The Snyders slowly began to build their chain from Baldwin Park, but maintained ownership over all of the In-N-Outs, including ownership of the land.

Each In-N-Out location is owned by the company, there are no franchisees. Expansion is also controlled based on management’s ability to staff new outposts with capable leadership. Many factors contribute to In-N-Out’s success and several addressed in the book include the higher wages paid to employees and their encouraged level of participation/ownership in the chain. In-N-Out has always controlled the production of its beef and buns, building relationships with devoted suppliers over the long haul. The resulting product is a fresh beef burger made by genuinely interested employees. The menu is kept simple with very little changed since the first stand was opened. When Harry Snyder died in 1976, his younger, more ambitious son Rich took over the reins of the business. It was the even handed growth under Rich’s watch that gradually expanded the chain throughout Southern California one outpost at a time throughout the ’80s.

Tragically, the company was faced with a forced change of leadership when a plane crash killed Rich Snyder, as well as several In-N-Out board members. Rich’s older brother Guy assumed leadership of In-N-Out, though himself was plagued with problems with drugs that led to his untimely death just six years after Rich’s plane crash. Guy continued to lead In-N-Out with the help of his mother, executing decisions in the framework that Rich had established. Throughout these years, In-N-Out continued to be exceedingly successful and was able to expand to nearly 140 outlets by the time of Guy’s death.

As Rich had no children, the only remaining heir in the Snyder family was Guy’s daughter Lynsi Snyder Martinez who had just turned 18. She was set to become the sole owner of In-N-Out once she reached the age to assume her full inheritance. The Snyders had set up various trusts which would enable Lynsi to gradually take full control of the company. Issues arose in the control of Lynsi’s trust between two of the trustees that ultimately led to a very public lawsuit involving In-N-Out in 2006. The suit was ultimately settled, but many allegations were brought to light regarding the struggle for power within In-N-Out with both Rich and Guy gone.

While there is a lot of time spent on the various angles of In-N-Out’s ownership succession and the associated lawsuit that ensues, it does get close to the inner workings of a fairly secretive company. The author does the best job possible in the depiction without having interviews from Lynsi Martinez or current In-N-Out leadership to explain and support her point of view.

In-N-Out’s success is something that inspires imitators.  It was an almost exact copy in the case of Chadder’s in Utah which would even serve In-N-Out’s secret menu items until coporate attorneys successfully sued Chadder’s. In other instances, such as East Coast variants Five Guys, Elevation Burger, and more, the principles of fresh made beef burgers and hand-cut fries are the ones being copied. Perman also demonstrates that In-N-Out’s management philosophy is equally as important to its success and results in the chain in having some of the lowest turnover rates in the fast food industry and many loyal employees that have stayed with the company for years.

One interesting point in the book was the diverging comparisons between In-N-Out and McDonald’s. McDonald’s increasingly relied on expansion and automation to serve more and more customers more quickly, while In-N-Out gradually expanded as it felt comfortable doing. The consistent reliance on fresh ingredients has carried In-N-Out and created their grassroots success. It was interesting that McDonald’s was one of the first consumers of both frozen french fries and frozen patties. I’m sure that my dad isn’t alone in remembering back to McDonald’s when they used fresh ingredients and remembering that everything tasted much better. In our increasingly chemically altered and modernized food marketplace, there is a large backlash seeking out simple, fresh foods. In-N-Out has been ahead of the curve since its inception and has never wavered.

Perhaps In-N-Out is one of the early prophets in what will play out in a forthcoming long tail effect on fast food, where consumers begin to demand that food be made on their terms, rather than the terms of low cost and efficiency. That same long tail effect killed or is killing media giants, even American carmakers. Perhaps large fast food chains are not that far behind. In-N-Out stands as a contrary example in its quiet success. Stacy Perman’s In-N-Out Burger enlightens the reader, giving glimpses inside this small, but extremely successful empire, and offering In-N-Out deprived readers images beyond the tasty burgers.

Tags: books, california, french fries, hamburgers