Which fast food chain was founded in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California?

The fast food chain founded in 1948 in Baldwin Park, California, was In-N-Out Burger.

Harry and Esther Snyder opened the first In-N-Out location on October 22, 1948, in the Los Angeles suburb of Baldwin Park. The small restaurant introduced a two-way speaker system that let customers order from their cars, making it an early drive-through hamburger stand.

The original restaurant stood near what is now Interstate 10 and Francisquito Avenue. It was later demolished during freeway construction, but a replica of the 1948 stand was built nearby in 2014. The chain remains privately owned and has never franchised its restaurants, a policy intended to preserve consistency and food quality.

A common mix-up is confusing In-N-Out’s founding with McDonald’s expansion in California. The McDonald brothers opened their original restaurant in San Bernardino, but In-N-Out was the chain founded in Baldwin Park in 1948.