The youngest female billionaire in the country has made her fortune from In-N-Out burger.
According to Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Lynsi Torres, owes her $1.1 billion fortune to the West Coast burger chain.
ABC News reported that Torres' family founded In-N-Out burger in 1948 with a drive-through hamburger stand in Baldwin Park. Lynsi became president of the burger chain in 2010. In-N-Out has a huge, almost, cult following on the West Coast.
To date, the chain has grown to nearly 280 stores in 5 states. Their 2012 sales were about $625 million, reported Bloomberg.
"In-N-Out, according to a 2003 Harvard Business School case study cited by Bloomberg, has never franchised, which helps it to maintain strict quality control. Consultants Bain & Co in 2005 estimated the chain enjoys a 20 percent profit margin, thanks in part to the company's focus on simplicity: its menu is strictly limited," reported ABC News.
Yahoo Finance reported that new store openings of the chain brings in loyal fans who will line up for hours in advance.
"They have done a fantastic job of building and maintaining a kind of cult following," said Bob Goldin, executive vice president of Chicago food industry research firm Technomic Inc to Yahoo Finance. "Someone would love to buy them."
Torres came to control the franchise after several family deaths. Her grandfather Harry died in 1976 so his second son, Rich, took over and expanded the chain from 18 restaurants to 93. Torres' father, Harry Guy Snyder, was chief executive following Rich's 1993 death from a plane crash. Guy expanded the chain to 140 locations. Guy passed away at the age of 49 due to a prescription overdose in 1999. Then Torres' grandmother Esther, Harry's widow, had control of the company until 2006 at the age of 86. When she died, Torres was the only family heir and she now controls the company through a trust which gave her half ownership when she turned 30 and she will get full ownership when she turns 35.
Torres has no college degree or formal management training but she finds her self now in charge of a billion dollar company. "I have no clue about her," said Janet Lowder, a Rancho Palos Verdes, California, restaurant consultant, who claims that she was one of the only people to extract the franchises internal finances from Esther Snyder for a survey in the 1980s to Yahoo Finance."I was even surprised there was a granddaughter."
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