Read Online In-N-Out Burger by Stacy Perman - Free Book Online Page A

Esther was in charge of the books. She had a real talent for numbers and a mind like a steel trap. She used her home kitchen table as an office. The couple worked punishing hours, often logging fourteen-or fifteen-hour days. The long hours and hard work never daunted Esther, in large part because she never for an instant doubted her husband. “Anything he decided to do usually turned out well,” she once said, “because he would work quite hard. He was a person who, if you gave him a job and it was difficult, he would figure it out and not let go until he knew it well.”
    On In-N-Out’s first day of business, the couple sold a total offorty-seven hamburgers. During their first month, they sold two thousand, bringing in an estimated $1,100. In recalling those early weeks, Esther Snyder once said “Many cold, smoggy nights were spent during the first few months of operation, but it was worthwhile.” During the early years, the Snyders made great personal sacrifices. They rarely spent money on themselves; in fact, it was some time before they bought a television. Instead, the couple funneled every cent they made back into the business.
    From the start, Baldwin Park’s locals lined up to eat at In-N-Out. Some of the Snyders’ biggest fans lived just across the street at the trailer park on Garvey. A few of the Barnes Circus families still lived there and often a few could be seen rigging a high wire three feet off the ground to practice their act while others rode their unicycles around the park’s perimeter. They’d have barbecues and picnics and run across the street to pick up bagfuls of In-N-Out burgers. In fact, a whole generation of kids who lived in Baldwin Park’s trailer parks grew up on In-N-Out. “Our early support came from the kind people of Baldwin Park,” Esther proudly declared. “Those were the days we made our many friendships with the residents of Baldwin Park.”
    Margaret Howard was sixteen years old when In-N-Out first opened up. Howard lived with her family on a chicken ranch in Baldwin Park. At seventy-five years old she still vividly recalled the first time she ate there. “I remember because I was in high school and they were real good hamburgers,” she explained. “My father didn’t like us to eat out. He wanted my brother and I to eat our meals at home, so we conned our friends to take us there.” When that didn’t work, Howard said that she purposefully missed the school bus from Covina High School and walked the ten miles home. “That way I could go to In-N-Out on the way back. I got chewed out for it when I got home,” she laughed. “But I got to eat at In-N-Out.” Soon enough, going to great lengths in order to eat one of their fresh and juicy burgers had become a common practice among In-N-Out’s rabid fans.
    At the same time, In-N-Out caught on with hungry motorists. During the evenings, In-N-Out benefited from the local produce growers who drove at night and stopped by the little Baldwin Parkstand on their way to the Los Angeles Wholesale Market. Russell Blewett, a longtime Snyder family friend who later became one of Baldwin Park’s mayors, put it this way: “That place was a gold mine from day one.”
    It was during those first, early days of operation that Harry created the formula that emerged as the standard for running In-N-Out. It informed the company’s identity and was rigidly adhered to over the coming decades. It was not based on some fancy management methodology—rather, it grew out of Harry’s own instincts and exacting personality. The system was based on three simple words: “Quality, Cleanliness, and Service.”
    Harry was a micromanager before the term existed. A rigorous taskmaster, he was not inclined to leave even the smallest details to others. From the start, he kept scrupulous records, tracking how many burgers were sold daily and noting