In-N-Out Burger President Lynsi Snyder opened up about why she made the decision to close the company’s Oakland location, detailing how crime and violence made the restaurant staff unsafe.
California has seen a mass exodus from the state since 2020, over a host of reasons, including the spike in crime linked to failed soft-on-crime policies. The closure of the Oakland location was the first time the company had to shutter a store, Snyder said.
“It was just absolutely dangerous. In, out of 365 days, I think 300 days there was some type of event,” Snyder told PragerU host Marissa Streit. The president cited burglaries, violence, fights, theft, and a stabbing, and said there was even an incident of gunshots fired through the store.
The president of the popular fast food chain also noted the lengthy wait time for police to show up when called. The city is notorious for slow 911 response times. Oakland 911 wait times were worse than any other city in the state, with an average wait time lasting three to four times longer than the state mandate, a 2023 NBC report found.
“It was huge,” Snyder said of the decision to shut down the store. “But, for the safety of our associates, we just felt like, this is not okay.”
The company announced in January that they’d be closing the location. As highlighted by The Daily Wire at the time, crime in the city spiked from 2022 to 2023, with robberies increasing by 38% and burglaries by 23%.
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Chief Operating Officer Denny Warnick said in January that the company took “repeated steps to create safer conditions,” but their customers and associates are still “regularly victimized by car break-ins, property damage, theft, and armed robberies.”
“We are grateful for the local community, which has supported us for over 18 years, and we recognize that this closure negatively impacts our Associates and their families,” Warnick said. “Additionally, this location remains a busy and profitable one for the company, but our top priority must be the safety and well-being of our Customers and Associates – we cannot ask them to visit or work in an unsafe environment.”
WATCH:
NEW: In-N-Out owner says she was forced to close their Oakland location because there was a crime almost every day, says the closure was the only one in 75 years.
Oakland is a great litmus test for what happens when you let liberals control an entire city for an extended period… pic.twitter.com/tPpydx8zdP
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 25, 2024
Related: ‘#DoNotComply’: Praise Erupts Online For In-N-Out Burger’s Anti-Vax Mandate Stand
