Stacy Perman has a extra book out now called In-N-Out-Burger...an inside look at the rise and Rise of my favorite 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 employer 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 measurement to serve potential 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 accommodating the booming car culture that emerged after World War Ii...In order to speed up the ordering 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 contemporary drive-through feel 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 opportunity other market to ease the congestion...Harry was a practical man...and only opened up an additional one 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 all the time paid in cash. By the time Harry Snyder died in 1976...In-N-Out Burger had about 18 market in the Southern California area. Despite many offers to improve further, and franchise...Harry and Esther Snyder insisted on retention 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 potential 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 market 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 all the time Vips...and were all the time right Farmers, and food merchants were treated like gold...In this easy yet radical mode of operation...everyone was happy...and with everybody happy...business all the time stayed strong. While every fast food restaurant in the country added and changed their menus in order to growth and improve 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."
Book
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 at last Utah. He also took In-N-Out Burger out of just being a simple, walk-up, drive-through feel and turned into walk-up, drive-through And indoor restaurant experience. A deeply religious man, it was Richard Snyder who implemented a course of having religious references to the Bible settled on the bottom of assorted 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 retention In-N-Out Burger exactly the way his father left it...family-owned, with all of the food fresh and made 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 distinct path than his younger brother Richard. For Guy Snyder...life was about fast cars, racing, and lots of drugs. Throughout his life, he fought enduringly 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 great 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 whole of years...though her health soon began to fail, and she passed away in 2006, at age 86. A power-struggle within the business was brewing while Esther's final years...and in a controversial move...Guy Snyder's ambitious 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 rights of the company...
All in all, I enjoyed reading In-N-Out-Burger. Considering how underground the business is, Stacy Perman did an exquisite job in getting as much data 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? an additional one thing that vexed 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 whatever 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.
In N Out Burger - The Book!
ไม่มีความคิดเห็น:
แสดงความคิดเห็น