In-n-Out was never a franchise. Maybe that has changed but as of a few years ago it was 100% company-family owned for decades. They grew at a regular pace and mostly in California and the West but they have been around since at least the 1950’s though they grew slowly for the first 25 years.
The In-n-Out family have a very sad history. The father/founder died at age 67 with 18 restaurants in the late 1970s. The eldsest son took over at age 24 and expanded it to almost 100 stores, but he died in a plane crash at age 40 or so in the early 1990s. The other son took over, but then he died a few years later from drug overdose. The wife of the founder took over, surviving the death of her 2 sons, and ran it for another 10 years. Upon her death it went into trust for the only surviving family member. Her granddaughter - the daughter of the son who died of an overdose - will have complete control of the company by the time she is 36. They have 256 Restaurants and probably (my guess) have revenues of around $500 million a year... maybe more. Nice inheritance.
Oh, there are references to Bible Passages on all their packaging - cups, wrappers, napkins and trays.
It is true they aren’t franchising it, they call it something else. They want to control it.
For lack of a better word, I used it.
They are changing, I have a relative that is working for them and they are going to go into a serious growth cycle.
Maybe you want to call it a profit sharing manager that buys in, I don’t know. But the bottom line is they realize that they have to have someone who is invested in their business like they are.
The NTSB ruled that the crash was caused by Wake Turbulence from a 757 that was on approach just ahead of them. I think the crash caused the FAA to require more distance between Commercial and Private Aircraft on approach.
When I was flying into JWA with my Boss in his Beechcraft, it was all I could think about. We were following a twin engine Continental Express Commuter Jet in the pattern.