In-N-Out Burger owner uses her company to glorify God

In-N-Out Burger, founded in 1948, is one of America’s most iconic brands. Buns are still baked with slow-rising dough each morning; the hamburgers are never frozen; heat lamps, microwaves, and freezers are banned from the premises. The recipes for its burgers and fries have remained essentially the same for seven decades.

An In-N-Out store outsells a typical McDonald’s nearly twice over. Revenue has doubled over the last eight years; the company is debt-free and is conservatively worth $3 billion. 

But none of that is why I’m writing about the restaurant today. 

I’m intrigued by In-N-Out’s owner, thirty-seven-year-old Lynsi Snyder. Her grandparents founded the chain. Her employees love her; she was recently rated the #3 CEO in the country. 

However, her life has been anything but easy. It’s a story of pain, redemption, and courage that encourages each of us to be all we can be in Christ. 

“The deep need in my heart” 

Snyder’s father died when she was a teenager. She says she turned to drugs and alcohol to fill the void. She also endured three failed marriages, one of which ended because of abuse. 

In the depths of her pain, she came to the realization: “I finally found that the deep need in my heart can only be filled by Jesus and my identity in him.” Rather than allowing her tragedies to define her future, she chose to dedicate her life to serving her Lord. 

For instance, she has continued a tradition begun by her uncle, who put Bible verses on In-N-Out’s cups and wrappers in the early 1990s. “He had just accepted the Lord and wanted to put that little touch of his faith on our brand,” she explains. Snyder has added verses to the coffee and hot cocoa cups as well. 

Her public stand for Christ could cost her company financially. In a country where nearly three in ten do not identify as Christians and a third of millennials…