Stacy Perman's informative book IN-N-OUT-BURGER is an inside look at the rise and RISE of my beloved In-N-Out Burger. Through Perman's no-nonsense prose, we are taken back to the late 40's...Post World War II America is prospering, and a young man named Harry Snyder meets a restaurant manager named Esther Johnson, falls in love, and soon opens a modest hamburger stand in Baldwin Park, California in 1948. Through hard work, and a fierce determination to serve quality food at low prices...Harry & Esther's small business quickly caught on, and soon the business was drawing large crowds, and large traffic jams. Harry Snyder called his business "In-N-Out-Burger" in reference to his business accomodating the booming car culture that emerged after World War II...In order to speed up the orderning process (& to save money on the cost of waiters and waitresses) Snyder invented a two-way speaker box so that customers can give their orders while waiting in their cars...essentially creating the modern drive-thru experience we have today.

Unlike virtually every other fast food business in the U.S....Harry and Esther Snyder operated their business as a way to make a living...NOT as a way to get rich. Expansion was only out of necessity...after long lines and traffic jams called out the need for other stores to ease the congestion...Harry was a practical man...and only opening up another In-N-Out Burger if he had the money to build the store, and purchase the land under it. He never borrowed on credit...it was always paid in cash. By the time Harry Snyder died in 1976...In-N-Out Burger had about 18 stores in the Southern California area. Despite many offers to expand further, and franchise...Harry and Esther Snyder insisted on keeping it a small, family-run business. Instead of cutting corners and costs in order to make more of a profit...the Snyders did the opposite... paying extra money to not only have high quality food (with everything fresh and made to order)...but also to pay their employees a higher wage than anybody else. To the Snyders...the workers at their In-N-Out Burger stores were the stars...and should be treated accordingly. There were no employees at In-N-Out Burger...everyone was an "associate"...never an employee. Customers were always VIPs...and were always right Farmers, and food merchants were treated like gold...In this simple yet radical mode of operation...everyone was happy...and with everyone happy...business always stayed strong. While every fast food restaurant in the country added and changed their menus in order to increase and expand business...In-N-Out-Burger stayed exactly the same...sticking with Harry Snyder's motto "Keep it simple; do one thing, and do it the best you can."

After Harry Snyder died, his youngest son Richard took over the business. Under Richard Snyder...In-N-Out Burger expanded to all parts of California, and extended into Nevada, Arizona, and eventually Utah. He also took In-N-Out Burger out of just being a simple, walk-up, drive-thru experience and turned into walk-up, drive-thru AND indoor restaurant experience. A deeply religious man, it was Richard Snyder who implemented a policy of having religious references to the Bible located on the bottom of various In-N-Out Burger cups and paper...a practice they continue to use to this day. Yet even in their broad expansion...Richard insisted on keeping In-N-Out Burger exactly the way his father left it...family-owned, with all of the food fresh and maade to order. Sadly, by the time In-N-Out Burger hit 200 stores...Richard Snyder (and other In-N-Out Burger executives) were killed in a plane crash in 1993.

Harry & Esther's oldest son, Guy, choose a different path than his younger brother Richard. For Guy Snyder...life was about fast cars, racing, and lots of drugs. Throughout his life, he fought constantly with his younger brother Richard. After Richard's death...Guy took over the company, slowed down expansion, yet kept the same core business values of his father and brother. Unfortunately, Guy Snyder's life of struggle and excess got the better of him, and he died of a drug overdose in 1999...leaving behind two ex-wives, his mother, and a daughter.

Esther Snyder did her best to run In-N-Out Burger for a number of years...though her health soon began to fail, and she passed away in 2006, at age 86. A power-struggle within the company was brewing during Esther's final years...and in a controversial move...Guy Snyder's ambitiuous ex-(step)son-in-law was named President of In-N-Out Burger upon Esther's death...with Guy's estranged daughter, Lynsi Martinez waiting in the wings to come of age...and take over full ownership of the company...

All in all, I enjoyed reading IN-N-OUT-BURGER. Considering how private the company is, Stacy Perman did an excellent job in getting as much information as she could about the inner-workings and history of In-N-Out Burger. Though I am not sure how much I liked Perman's writing in general..there was something lacking in it...an absence of style, or zest perhaps? Another thing that annoyed me was Perman's tendency to pad her book a bit with repetition, and (what felt like) non-pertinent information...That said, I am thankful that ANYONE took the time to write a book like this...and got a huge kick out of learning more about the place(s) I love...my home away from home...In-N-Out Burger.