OPINION:
The leader of California’s most iconic fast-food chain is fleeing the rapidly tarnishing Golden State. In-N-Out Burger President Lynsi Snyder announced Friday that she was packing her bags for Franklin, Tennessee, suggesting she was taking the heart of the company with her.
“There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here. The bulk of our stores are still going to be here in California, but it will be wonderful having an office out there [in Tennessee], growing out there,” she said on the “Relatable” podcast.
Until recently, the company resisted every effort to lure the 77-year-old establishment east of Texas. “We don’t want to be on every corner. We don’t want to be in every state,” Ms. Snyder explained. California revealed its hostility during the COVID-19 panic when cities such as San Francisco compelled local businesses to refuse service to anyone failing to produce vaccination papers.
“That was definitely where we held the line. We’re not policing our customers,” Ms. Snyder said. “There was so much pressure and so many hoops we had to jump through. You’ve got to do this; they’ve got to wear masks. Put this plastic thing up between us and our customers. It was really terrible.” San Francisco officials retaliated by briefly shutting down the city’s only In-N-Out franchise.
Ms. Snyder, a devout Christian, says her priority is not maximizing growth; it’s “keeping the company the same company my grandparents started. I want the legacy to continue. … I want to serve God by honoring what my family started.”
The cups and wrappers for the firm’s burgers and drinks sport a discreet Bible verse, something possible only at a family-run company. Ms. Snyder clarified that the verses are meant to spark a conversation: “No one’s being forced to … follow the Ten Commandments, and then you can have a burger. It’s not like that.”
It’s Sacramento that imposes its will by force, which has inspired more than 300 companies to leave since Gov. Gavin Newsom moved into the governor’s mansion. The California Policy Center’s “Book of Exoduses” tracks the stampede toward free states in a list featuring the likes of chipmaker GlobalFoundries, engineering giant AECOM, the oil barons at Chevron, venture capitalists Andreesen Horowitz and cosmetics maker Neutrogena.
Perhaps most telling is the real estate experts at Realtor.com, who recognize the value of location above all else, decided it was time to relocate to Texas. “We are proud to be housed in a state which understands the crucial role played by business in providing opportunities for personal growth, professional success and community achievement,” News Corp. CEO Robert Thomson said in a statement (News Corp. owns Realtor.com).
California wasn’t always run by statists. It was home to America’s innovation culture. Silicon Valley attracted the world’s best minds to drive the technology revolution that gave us the personal computer, the internet and, for better or worse, AI and social media.
The Golden State used to be the political power base for Presidents Nixon and Reagan. Although it would be an uphill climb for Republicans to recapture the past glory, they do have an opportunity now that Mr. Newsom is term-limited.
One Republican gubernatorial aspirant, Fox News host Steve Hilton, has a message he thinks might resonate: “Gavin Newsom has driven you out Lynsi but when I’m elected governor next year I will work so hard to win you and In-N-Out Burger back,” he wrote on X.
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