In-N-Out Burger to Move Western HQ Back to Baldwin Park While Eastern Offices Moving to Tennessee

Fast food chain In-N-Out Burger announced on Wednesday that they would be moving their headquarters from Irvine to Baldwin Park, with many of the Irvine workers also being sent to the companies new Eastern base currently under construction in Franklin, Tennessee.

While the first restaurant was founded in Baldwin Park in 1948, expanding business throughout Southern California necessitated a more centralized headquarters to be placed in Irvine in the mid-1990s. While the chain has remained strong financially through the years, expanding throughout California, the West Coast and even new forays in Texas and Tennessee, rumors have persisted of an HQ move outside of California.

The loss of the headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX, Oracle, X, and many more companies to more tax friendly locations outside of California further fueled speculation that other large Californian companies, like In-N-Out, could move out soon. Not helping matters was the widely publicized closure of their only Oakland location last year due solely to crime.

Nonetheless, In-N-Out announced on Wednesday that they would move their Western corporate offices back to their original founding city of Baldwin Park, with Eastern offices being located to Franklin, Tennessee. While the official headquarters is to remain in California, the Irvine jobs will be heading to either of the two other locations once the move is complete in 2029.

“In every decision about the future of In-N-Out Burger, I give strong consideration to what my grandparents and my family would think is best for our company,” said owner and president of In-N-Out Burger Lynsi Snyder. “I know my family would be in support of this move because it brings our In-N-Out family back together in a way that helps us better serve our Customers, who are the most important priority.

“Some of our associates will be relocating to Tennessee, which makes it even more important to centralize our western headquarters in one location, and our company’s deepest roots are in Baldwin Park. Our West Coast family will be together in one place, where In-N-Out Burger began.”

While a move out of Irvine wasn’t surprising, In-N-Out choosing their headquarters to stay in California, albeit with a growing presence in Tennessee, was seen as unexpected.

“The fact they are going more and more East with new locations did lead many to think that maybe a move outside of California was warranted,” Elliot Barnes, a fast food restaurant consultant, told the Globe Wednesday. “But, with the lion’s share of locations still solely in California, and the family remaining committed to the state, a decision to stay here perhaps wasn’t surprising either. It was either going to head back to L.A. or it was going to Texas or someplace East and, as it turns out, both sides were right.

“California has been losing so many of it’s iconic brands, that people were eying fast food next. Blaze Pizza, for example, left Pasadena last year for a new headquarters in Atlanta. But the Snyder family has deep California roots. So California managed to not lose another major Headquarters. Mostly. That’s a refreshing change of pace.”