YouSaid · the spoken record

Harry Snyder

lines on the record: 22
first: 2022-05-03
most recent: 2022-05-03
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Micromanager before the term existed. He was a rigorous taskmaster. He was not inclined to even leave the smallest detail to others. From the start he kept scrupulous records, noting how many paper cups were dispensed, he was known to be fanatical about quality. Deals were struck on a handshake, so he's talking about deals for supplier of people that give him the ingredients he needs to make his product, okay? Deals were struck on a handshake and they lasted decades, often ending only if the supplier went out of business or failed to meet Harry's exacting standards. When it was discovered that a vendor had hidden a batch of substandard onions within a truckload of good ones, the supplier was dumped. And so there we see that he's frugal, right? But not when it comes to product quality. A frugal man in most respects Harry was prolific when it came to purchasing the freshest, highest grade of meat, potatoes, and produce. He refused to sacrifice quality”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“During the very early years the Snyders made great personal sacrifices. The company funneled every cent they made back into the business. And so that is the first mention of that theme that Harry is just going to use for his entire life. He's just do as much of the work as yourself, be there, he's constantly there seven days a week. He's obsessed. He's completely obsessed with building. He's not trying, and this is an important distinction, and I think also how you get to like cult-like following. He's not interested in being the biggest. He's interested in being the best. And so there's this hilarious interview that Jerry Seinfeld did a few years ago with the Harvard Business Review and his work ethic and his ethos, Jerry Seinfeld's ethos on work is exactly, it's the same as Harry. Seinfeld put that philosophy and directed it towards stand-up comedy and building one of the most successful television shows of all time. Harry just channeled it towards making”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And what's crazy is how far ahead of the curve Harry was. He's doing this in 1948. McDonald's didn't add a drive-do window till 1975. Another crazy thing, Harry never took a patent out for that invention. And at the very beginning of In and Out, it's just Harry and Esther. They don't even have any employees. This is also something that you notice throughout his entire life. If he was alive today and you could ask him for advice, I think he would just say do it yourself. He's obviously going to have a ton of employees by the time he dies, but he never stops. He'll take out the trash. He's constantly working. He's not, you know, these absentee owners with his feet up. And so at the start of the In N Out Burger, it was just Hester, Esther and Harry. The Snyders did everything themselves. The couple worked punishing hours, often logging 14 or 15 hour days. On in and out's first day of business, the couple sold a total of 57 hamburgers. They do over a billion dollars in revenue a year in present.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Because you drive in, there's a speaker I made, and it's funny. It's like this loud, distorted voice that they hear in the kitchen. So it's like, obviously it gets better with time. The very beginning gets very rudimentary, very rough around the edges, right? But it's like, all right, well, on one end of the driveway, you're driving and you're telling me what you want. And then you drive on the other side of the driveway and you're walking out with, you know, the best cheeseburger you've ever had in your life. That was just hilarious. Now check this out because this is another example of anytime you introduce new technology, it confuses people. Harry's new speakerphone drive-thru format got off to something of a troubled start. In 1948, most customers were bewildered by the invention that in time became as standard and familiar as fast food itself. This night, this is why you always have to educate, educate, educate, right? These snyders had to show customers how to use the drive-thru. Think about how crazy that is. Something to you and I is completely obvious. It's not obvious if you only saw it for the first time.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Our nature causes us to overcomplicate things when all we want is a reduction. It is a joy when you go into like an in and out or even five guys has this tour. It's just like, okay, there's like two things I can choose from here. You make the decision for me. This is what you do this every day. You know what is the best? And so you just say, hey, I've been trying to work at this burger stand. I was driving in in the case of In and Out for 30 years by the time he dies. Like this is clearly what works. I don't need to overcomplicate things. So let's go back to this. He dispensed with the car hops altogether and replaced them with an adventure of his own. A single two-way speaker box made out of a few off-the-shelf electronical components that was connected to the Eateries kitchen. That way motorists could order at the end of one drive to and pick up their food at the other end. Why is that important? Because that's where you got the name. Let's keep it simple. Keep it simple. That's how Harry ended up with the name of In and Out Hamburgers.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Where I'm at, keep it real simple. Do one thing and do it the best you can. This dude is obsessed with simplicity. That is an important point that I cannot repeat enough because it goes against. So human, the weird thing is like there's a conflict in human nature, right? We cannot stop overcomplicating things. Yet, we have an intense desire. We crave simplicity. One of my favorite quotes in that book, I did a bonus episode. It's called Insanely Simple, the Obsession That Drives Apple's success. And there's a quote in that book I never forgot. And I try to keep in the back of my mind, never underestimate the degree to which people crave clarity and respond positively to it. Never underestimate the degree to which people crave clarity and respond positively to it. I think the reason that we respond positively to it because it doesn't exist very commonly because we're constantly.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Special. Number two, I'm not skimping at all, ever on the ingredients to go into my hamburger. I'm not, you're not going to say, oh, you know, if you just switch out this lettuce for one that's 15 cents cheaper and you're selling tens of thousands of hamburgers a month, guess how much money you make? That's how a lot of people approach a business. Harry's like, I don't give a shit. I'm not taking the advice that makes my product lower quality. And again, this is the foundation. There is no cult-like following to shitty products. So therefore, logically, you can say, okay, any kind of...”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“That competition just makes you stronger. You shouldn't be afraid of the competition that makes you stay on top of your game. I told the Snyders that it's very important to have respect for your competitors. I may have a different philosophy than some of my competitors, but I believe that your competitors are really your friends. They keep you on your toes. And so one of these very specific ideas that Harry had is always you don't ever cut corners when it comes to the quality of your product. So it says Harry's philosophy was to stress fresh ingredients and high quality. Harry wanted to take the, this is a quote from him. I wanted to take the lettuce out of the ground, the tomato off the vine, and the onion and prepare the burger fresh right now. That was the goal. The couple sold a Spartan menu. One cheeseburger, one hamburger, you can order French fries, and soft drinks. And eventually they add milkshakes to that. So we've already seen some foundations of his philosophy, right? The people that are come to my business, they have to...”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The restaurants around were drive ins. So you would drive into like a hamburger stand, they'd have people come out usually like on roller skates or some kind of theme and they would take your order. You'd sit in the car. You'd take your order. Then they'd skate back to where the restaurant is, bring your food back and just sit and eat in the car. He's like, well, let's not drive in. Let's do a drive through. So he needs to get started, doesn't have any money. A typical entrepreneur Harry was rich in ideas but short on cash. He took on a partner who put up some $5,000 in startup capital. They're going to wind up having a fight. Harry's going to wind up having to run the show. He's not going to share it with this guy that gave the money. Harry Snyder's instincts were a good one. Southern California was the most heavily motorized place on the planet. There were over a million cars in Los Angeles alone by 1940. So as he's getting started, Harry does something smart. He reaches out to somebody that's further down the line in what he's trying to accomplish. This guy, there's going to actually be a married couple there.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“He's extremely interested in controlling his own destiny. You can kind of read between the lines here as a kid with a father like that. You kind of feel like you're just at the whims of an unreliable person, right? He's like, okay, I'm an adult now. I'm not letting this happen. Harry was determined to live a different sort of life. He was simply determined to create his own future. Harry had a strong gut feeling, although he had a couple failed businesses under his belt, that didn't stop him. Harry and Esther would open a new kind of hamburger stand, the drive-thru. So that's another thing that's going to blow your mind. In and out is one of the first drive-throughs. Harry, it looks like he was the one that invented, like, think about if you go up to any drive-thru restaurant now, you place your order through some kind of speaker system, right? Harry invented that. That blew my mind. And this is also interesting that he had to trust his ability. Like, he had common sensor sourcefulness, but he also had belief in himself, which sounds crazy because his two previous businesses failed, right? But everything at this point, most”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“California. Harry had developed takeout bag lunches to serve the scores of soldiers passing through the area, and he had come up with an idea for a new kind of restaurant. And so, this is one of my favorite parts of the book because you really realize that the founders of In N Out are going to build the foundation of their business by writing two waves. And I'll explain more. The first wave is that after World War II, according to the book, there were more cars in LA than anywhere else on the Earth. Okay, so in and out starts out as just a drive-through. You cannot, there is no place to sit. You have to go in your car. So the two waves that they combine is that the fact that they just happen to be in the setup shop in a place where there's more cars than anywhere else on Earth and at this point in history, this is post-World War II, there was an increase in the amount of families where both adults worked.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Time, and as a result, when he dies, he dies rather young at 63 years old from lung cancer. He's got hundreds of people that show up at his funeral. Fast forwarding the story a little bit in 1947, Harry was 34 years old and working as a caterer selling box sandwiches to the cafeteria at Fort Lauden. So I skipped over a part. He serves in the military. Then he gets out and he's still working in the military and he's selling sandwiches to the army. That's where he meets his wife. One day in 1947 while dropping off his sandwiches, Harry met the restaurants' 27-year-old manager. Her name was Esther Johnson. Esther's just like Harry, extremely hardworking. A lot of that has to do is because they're growing up in the Great Depression. They see what happens when you run out of money. Esther's father began working in the mines. The Great Depression, though, ended the mining boom for good. When Esther was 14 years old, the mine shut down permanently. She grew up in a house with eight children under modest financial circumstances. Yet despite the financial constraints, her parents did something smart here. They managed to place an emphasis.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Harry was not much of an academic. He was never more than a middling student. Rather, Harry excelled in the areas of common sense and resourcefulness. That is a fantastic way to describe my interpretation of his business philosophy. It's a combination of common sense and resourcefulness, and then you layer in an intense work ethic. Following high school, he enrolled at Santa Monica Junior College, but quit after one semester. I couldn't afford to go. I had to work to keep myself going. Harry's drive in tenacity were propelled by the uncertainty of watching his parents labor to provide for his family. Harry grew into a disciplined fellow with a strong sense of responsibility. He also did a really important thing as he built his business. He decided to build the people that worked for him. He's like, I don't consider, he wouldn't let you use the word employee. He's like, look up the definition of the word employee, look up the definition of the word associate. We are associates. And so now only would he pay his associates well. He was trying to build young men at the same exact...”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Harry's teenage years. He's a teenager. He's still supposed to be in school and his dad is so lazy and apathetic that Harry's forced to pick up the slack. During Harry's teenage years, he took every job he could. He managed to maintain a fierce sense of responsibility. Although he was just a young man in the depression had flattened prospects for most, Harry always found a way to make a dollar. He landed a number of odd jobs. He would do anything, and he always supported his family, giving them money every week from whatever money he had earned. He worked as a paperboy. He worked in a grocery store. He sold sandwiches. That's the job he has, selling sandwiches is the job that he's going to have right before he founds In and Out and realizes, hey, I can do this, I don't have to work for other people. He worked in a grocery store. He delivered hot dog and hamburger buns for a bakery. He worked at a concession stand. He picked up rental umbrellas on the beach. And again, he's doing anything he can, gives his parents money. As you can imagine, he's working so much. He's not that great in school.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“To the next after owing rent to the landlords they had left behind. When Harry was 13, his father landed in jail after he beat up a landlord who came by and demanded money. His father was also extremely entitled, extremely lazy. These are things that Harry is not. So he would make money as a house painter. And he says the work paid a tidy sum of 20, this is in 1928. So they're going to have to struggle through the depression. That's when Harry starts working. And I think that's where he gets this fierce work ethic that never leaves him. The work paid a tidy sum of $25 per week. But when Hendrick was refused a vacation, he simply put down his paintbrush and walked away, leaving his wife to support the family with her housekeeping jobs. Really great, really great role model, Hendrick. Hendrick never held another proper job again, so it fell on Harry to pick up the slack of his father. So if you could think of Hendrik has loser mentality, Harry has founder mentality.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Takes care of its employees, he paid way more. He thought it was just the right thing to do. Even if you're not sharing profits, they don't own a percentage of the business, they still make a lot more money. His employees made a lot more money than other people working in similar restaurants. Hendrick was careless to the point of recklessness. The old man always ran out of money was how Harry described his father's financial acumen or a lack thereof. And then imagine how much you have to mess up your life for one day for your kids to describe you like this. It's just, I shudder at the thought. And so he says, when he left Seattle, my dad owed everybody and their brother money. He was the biggest stiff there was. So not only was he not good with money, he didn't really work that much, but then he would also essentially borrow money and just leave town. And he does this wherever. So he's doing it in Seattle, then they go to Los Angeles and says the same situation. He's not his father's obviously not changing. The family moved from one rental house.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And above all, remain family owned and independent, something they repeat over and over again even as an in and out competitors raced around the globe franchising in and out never wavered from their simple philosophy. And so now we get a description of Harry. Harry Snyder was an uncomplicated man with sharp instincts. He was also, I would say, a workaholic, and I think a lot of that has to do with his upbringing. His father was, well, I mean, I'll just let you He's going to describe his own father. Sounds like he thought his father was a bit of a loser. He had some crazy ideas. He didn't believe anybody, this is Harry talking. He didn't believe anybody should be wealthy. He figured that if you made so much money, the rest of it should go back to the government and then they could give it to poor people. So Harry was influenced by his father. His father's name was Hendrik. For a little bit, Harry was actually identified as a communist. And then Harry realized that doesn't actually work out. He builds a business, but he also...”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“In and out transformed from a single burger stand to a cult phenomenon. And then one last sentence from the introduction the counterintuitive chain had stridently bucked every industry trend. Later on in the book, like another 250 pages into the future, double underlined a sentence that I think I want to put at the very beginning to help you understand the in and out philosophy. It is known as the anti-chain with the cult-like mystique, the anti-chain is the perfect way to describe in and out's approach to building their business. So in 1948, Harry and Esther, they're already married at this point. They settle in this little suburb of Los Angeles called Baldwin Park, and so that is where the very first in-and-and-outs going to happen. Built in 1948, this was the frontier of the American dream. This is where newly married couples like Harry and Esther could purchase land, buy a small house, and build an even smaller burger joint and then dream big dreams.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Associate hand peels, cuts, and fries the raw potatoes that are grown especially for the chain. At In and Out, the lettuce is still leafed by hand. Buns are still baked daily. The family owned, fiercely independent chain has remained virtually unchanged since its inception in nineteen forty eight. So that sentence, just like keep it real simple, do one thing and do it really well. Repeated over and over again, 15, 20, 30 times throughout the book. That's also something that's extremely different than a lot of their competitors. It is to this day. So this book was published in 2009. Fast forward over a decade later, the chain is still family owned. There's no franchises and it is still private. It has long been adored by its legions of fans whose main complaint seems to be there just aren't enough of the restaurants around. In and out is frequently the subject of rumor and speculation. The private company has always shunned the kind of publicity that its competitors”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Probably 15 times something that Harry Snyder, co founder of In N Out Burger, he founded it with his wife Esther, repeats for three decades. Keep it real simple. Do one thing and do it the best you can. And so his simplicity starts with what is he going to offer. In and out's famously limited menu of three burgers, French fries, soft drinks, and milkshakes has barely changed since Harry Truman was president. There's no Mediterranean raps, no chicken, Caesar salad wraps, or children's menus. There's no heat lamps, so this I'm still in the introduction of the book, what the author is doing is comparing and contrasting the way In and Out runs their business with the way all their competitors do. There's no heat lamps, no freezers or microwaves. There's no bags of flash frozen fries on site either. Rather, in a procedure that has gone unchanged since the chain first opened in 1948, a cheer”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“The biggest difference is that colts tend to be fanatically wrong about something important. People add a successful startup are fanatically right about something those outside of it have missed in and out. As we go through this book study, you realize that you have this giant explosion, in and out started in 1948. And so most of what I'm going to talk to you about today is just a founder, Harry Snyder, right? In and out started in 1948 the next three decades, there's this gigantic explosion in fast food in America. It becomes a multiple hundred billion dollar, if not trillion dollar industry. And yet none of In and Out's quote unquote competitors have this cult-like following the in and out does. And that's what that sentence right there. People at a successful startup. So in and out was fanatically right about something like McDonald's, Wendy's, those outside of it have missed. Okay, so let's jump into the book. I'm going to start with the single most important sentence in the entire book. It's something that's”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With our clientele, In and Out did that over and over again. We kept the promises for the most important people. And this is what Trader Joe's warns us though. It's fantastic to have a cult-like following, word-of-mouth advertising is fantastic. It's the most powerful form of advertising. It's the one every single business in the world is trying to go after. But he's like, you only do that. You cannot betray. He says beware of ever betraying the true believers. So once you identify who your true believers are, you cannot disappoint them or they will turn on you. Another example for you, all the way back when founders number 31, I did a podcast on Peter Teal, read two books on him. One of those books happened to be zero to one, and he says explicitly, talks about cults in that book. He says, the best startups might be considered slightly less extreme kinds of cults. The biggest difference is that Colts tend, he's talking about the negative connotation of Colts.”
2022-05-03 · Founders · #244 Harry Snyder (In-N-Out Burger) · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source