In-N-Out next-gen reveals kidnapping attempts

Notoriously private In-N-Out third gen Lynsi Snyder has revealed her low profile is due to two kidnapping attempts that have been made against her.

In an interview with US magazine Orange Coast, the 31-year-old said the first attempt happened when she was in high school, and the second attempt was when she was in management at the family’s burger chain.

Snyder, now going by her maiden name following her divorce from race car driver Val Torres, inherited control of In-N-Out in 2006 when her grandmother died, and has been president since 2010.

Of the second kidnapping attempt, she said that she had spotted her potential attackers due to their boarded up van, and ran across an adjacent freeway to escape them.

Snyder told Orange Coast as a result she “liked to fly under the radar” – even urging the publication not to disclose how many children she has from her three marriages.

Last year Bloomberg declared Snyder one of the youngest female billionaires in the world, and valued her family's private company at $1.1 billion (€812.9 million).

She is the sole beneficiary of family trusts that will eventually give her majority control of the fast food giant.

Snyder is not the first next-gen to have a brush with kidnapping. Patty Hearst of the eponymous publishing dynasty, and Sam Bronfman II, heir to the Seagram beverage dynasty, are among several high-profile next-gens to be kidnapped.

Speaking to CampdenFB last year, Mike O’Neill, managing director of security and risk consultancy firm Optimal Risk, said people who have grown up around money are generally sensible about attempting to keep a low profile, but that there can be problems with perception.

“They might think they live a fairly low-profile lifestyle, but other people won’t. If they live in an expensive house or are driving around in a convoy of Mercedes they might not notice how that looks,” O’Neill said.

Speaking on her leadership style, Snyder, who started work in a local In-N-Out Burger restaurant and has since worked in the human resources and merchandising divisions, told Orange Coast she was “conservative” and “old-fashioned”.

In-N-Out Burger was founded by Harry and Esther Snyder in 1948, and today has almost 300 stores in five states.