A fast-food hamburger chain long associated with California is moving its headquarters out of the Democrat-led state, according to its owner.
In-N-Out owner Lynsi Snyder said she was moving the company to the suburbs of Nashville, Tennessee, with plans for southeastern expansion.
"There's a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here," Snyder told Allie Beth Stuckey on the "Relatable" podcast released Friday.
While the "bulk of our stores" still will be located in the Golden State, Snyder said In-N-Out's corporate headquarters will be in Franklin, Tennessee, beginning in 2026.
"It will be wonderful having an office out there, growing out there, and being able to have a family, and other peoples' families out there," she said.
In-N-Out Burger in February said it will close its office in Irvine, California, and will consolidate its West Coast operations in Baldwin Park, California. Snyder said the Irvine office will close by 2030.
Snyder cited COVID-era business restrictions, such as mask mandates and vaccine requirements, as particular elements of California policy that made it difficult to operate in the state.
During the pandemic, California required people to show their vaccine cards before entering restaurants. In-N-Out businesses refused to follow that demand, and state health officials temporarily shut down several In-N-Out locations in 2021, Business Insider reported.
"There were so many pressures, and just hoops we were having to jump through, you know, you've got to do this, they have to wear a mask... put this plastic thing up between us and our customers," Snyder said, "It was really terrible.
"I look back and I'm like, 'Man, maybe we should have just pushed even harder on some of that stuff and dealt with all the legal backlash.'"
In-N-Out currently has more than 400 locations across eight states: California, Nevada, Arizona, Utah, Texas, Oregon, Colorado, and Idaho.
"No. 1 priority is really keeping the company the same company that my grandparents started," Snyder said. "We don't want to be in every state, and we don't want to ever compromise our values and standards and the cornerstones that my grandparents laid down, so it's really just keeping those priorities at the forefront when we make decisions."
California has joined Delaware, where the judicial system appears often to be war with big business and conservative companies, as states in which businesses are leaving due to Democrat policies.
In May, President Donald Trump's media company became the latest to leave behind incorporation in Delaware, fleeing the left-leaning blue state for the more "pro-business" climate of Florida.
Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG), which offers the digital platform Truth Social, officially moved to Florida, a company filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission showed.
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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