The owner of a closed In-N-Out location is criticizing authorities after the restaurant was forced to close following shootings and break-ins

THE owner of In-N-Out has broken her silence about the closure of the popular burger chain’s Oakland location earlier this year.

In January, In-N-Out made national headlines after it announced for the first time in the restaurant’s 75-year history that one of its locations would be permanently closing.

2

2

At the time, Denny Warnick, the burger chain’s operations manager, attributed the closure of the Oakland location to “ongoing crime problems” in the area.

The location near Oakland International Airport closed permanently on March 24, officially marking the company’s departure from the city.

The site operated for nearly two decades.

Now, nearly a year after the location closed, In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder has revealed the issues behind the troubled location and the company’s decision to cease operations in Oakland.

Snyder, 42, called the site “absolutely dangerous.”

The CEO said In-N-Out’s Oakland location has been plagued by car break-ins, fights and thefts.

“I mean, there was a lot,” Snyder told Marissa Streit on a recent episode of PragerU’s Real Talk Show.

“There was actually – gunfire going through the store, there was a stabbing, there was a lot.”

“In order to keep our employees safe, we just felt like this wasn’t right.”

In-N-Out did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The burger company said it looked at various alternatives to save the site and ensure the safety of its customers and employees.

“Although we repeatedly take steps to create safer conditions, our customers and employees regularly fall victim to car break-ins, property damage, thefts and armed robberies,” Warnick, the company’s operations manager, said in January.

“We believe the frequency and severity of the crimes our customers and employees face leave us no other choice.”

Warnick described the since-closed location as “busy and profitable.”

However, the company said it should not encourage its customers or employees to “visit or work in an unsafe environment.”

Snyder added on the podcast that the time it took for police to respond to 911 calls at the Oakland restaurant was “alarming.”

Employees affected by the closure, which numbered nearly 100, were either transferred to a nearby In-N-Out location in San Francisco or received severance pay.