In-N-Out heiress says she closed Oakland location because it was ‘absolutely dangerous’

On By Littum

The In-N-Out heir, whose grandparents founded the popular burger chain, said the company’s decision to close its only Oakland location was because the location was “absolutely dangerous.”

“I mean, there was a lot,” Lynsi Snyder Marissa Streit of the right-wing video network PragerU told Monday.

“There was actually – shots going through the store, there was a stabbing, there was a lot.”

Lynsi Snyder is the owner and president of In-N-Out Burger. She inherited the company when she was just 17 years old. PragerU
In-N-Out closed its only Oakland restaurant in January due to high crime rates in the area. MediaNews Group via Getty Images

Snyder, 42, said the company closed the profitable outpost “for the safety of our employees” because “we just felt this is not right.”

Her comments were first reported by news site SFGATE.

In-N-Out made the decision to pull out of Oakland after an 18-year presence in the city in January. It served its final customer in March.

It was the first time in its 75-year history that the company closed one of its restaurants permanently.

“Despite taking repeated steps to create safer conditions, our customers and business partners regularly fall victim to car break-ins, property damage, theft and armed robbery,” Denny Warnick, the company’s chief operating officer, announced in January.

Snyder’s grandparents are the founders of In-N-Out Burger. PragerU

“In addition, this location remains busy and profitable for the business, but our top priority must be the safety and well-being of our customers and employees – we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment,” he said.

The workers at the closed In-N-Out location were given the option to either move to another of the company’s fast-food restaurants or accept a severance package.

Months after the closure, the building is empty. That’s it listed for $4 million.

Violent crime is significantly higher in Oakland than the national average, according to FBI statistics.

The In-N-Out that was closed was in a busy business corridor that attracts travelers heading to the airport and baseball fans attending A’s games at the Coliseum. But the A’s played their final season in Oakland this year and will eventually move to Las Vegas.

Since 2019, police have recorded at least 1,335 incidents near the restaurant on Oakport Street — more than anywhere else in Oakland.

That number includes nine robberies, two commercial burglaries, four domestic violence incidents and 1,174 car break-ins, according to Oakland police data shared with the San Francisco Chronicle.

With Postal Wire