In-N-Out Burger and Esther Snyder

In-N-Out Burger is a chain of fast food restaurants in the western United States. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Irvine, California, In-N-Out Burger has since expanded to Arizona and Nevada, and expanded to Utah in 2008.


The restaurant chain has developed a loyal customer base and is one of the few fast food chains in the United States to pay their employees much more than state and federal mandated minimum wages - up to $ 10 per hour California, in January 2008.


Who is Esther Snyder?

Esther Lavelle Snyder (née Johnson) (January 7, 1920 – August 4, 2006) was an American businesswoman. She co-founded In-N-Out Burger, with her husband Harry Snyder, in 1948.
Snyder was born and raised in Sorento, Illinois as one of eight children (seven daughters, one son). She attended Greenville College and graduated from Seattle Pacific University with a bachelor's degree in Zoology.
She met Harry Snyder in 1947, while working at a restaurant in Seattle; the two were married the following year and moved to Baldwin Park, California.
Esther and Harry Snyder had two sons: Harry Guy (more commonly referred to by simply "Guy"; born 1951) and Richard Snyder (born 1952) and one granddaughter from their first son Guy: Lynsi (born 1982). She outlived her husband, who died in 1976 and both of their sons, one of whom died in a plane crash and the other succumbed to a drug overdose.

She died on August 4, 2006 in Baldwin Park, California, aged 86, from undisclosed causes. She is survived by her only grandchild, Lynsi Martinez (née Snyder), who is now the heir to the In-N-Out Burger company.