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In-N-Out owner says no to automated ordering

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In-N-Out owner says no to automated ordering

In-N-Out is known for hewing to convention.

So don’t expect the popular burger chain to embrace mobile ordering anytime soon.

That was a message Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson, owner of the family-run chain, delivered in a speech posted this week on YouTube.

Snyder expressed concern that such automation would taint the company’s efforts to sustain its in-person customer service and fresh food.

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“What makes In-N-Out and the experience so special is the interaction and the customer service that we’re able to give, the smile, the greeting. Just that warmth and feeling, the culture,” Snyder-Ellingson said. “The mobile ordering will definitely take a piece of that away.”

The owner spoke and took audience questions during an event at Pepperdine University.

Snyder-Ellingson intends to keep operations as close to how it was when her grandparents, the founders, were at the helm, she said.

Snyder-Ellingson, who took charge of the family-run chain in 2010, spoke about her 2023 book, “The Ins-N-Outs of In-N-Out Burger,” and opened up during the talk about her journey reconnecting with God, the struggles she faced with drinking, as well as her divorce.

The beloved burger chain, whose long lines often wrap around the block, has stood out against fast food competitors in its resistance to automated ordering.

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The company was born in 1948, when Harry and Esther Snyder opened a small food stand in Baldwin Park. For decades, the burgers could only be found in Southern California, until the chain eventually expanded, mostly to nearby states.

The original location gave birth to drive-thru ordering, and revolutionized fast food culture in the state.

To this day, all orders are custom-made and nothing is frozen, a practice that stays true to the founding couple’s promise of “Quality, Cleanliness and Service.” The menu is simple, and has remained mostly the same.

“My passion in leading is making sure that I’m preserving um the legacy of my grandparents and my family,” Snyder-Ellingson said. “I want to make them proud. I want to champion everything that they would want, especially in today’s world.”

The company’s future in Southern California has been shaky since Snyder-Ellingson announced she was moving to Tennessee, where the company plans to open a second headquarters. The company has scaled back in the Golden State, consolidating its corporate operations to Baldwin Park.

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“There’s a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here. Doing business is not easy here,” Snyder said on a podcast in July. Her comments come amid a broader corporate exodus from California, with businesses like Tesla and Chevron jumping ship.

Today, there are locations in 10 states across the country, mostly in the west coast and as far east as Tennessee. The company recently announced five new locations set to open soon outside California.

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Airbnb to add grocery delivery and car rentals ahead of World Cup

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Airbnb to add grocery delivery and car rentals ahead of World Cup

Airbnb unveiled a new set of services for guests on Wednesday, adding car rentals, airport pickup and grocery delivery to its online marketplace that connects travelers with local hosts.

Customers can now get groceries delivered to their Airbnb through a partnership with Instacart and have a driver meet them at the airport with Airbnb’s Welcome Pickups. The app is also offering luggage storage in partnership with Bounce and will add in-app car rentals later this summer.

At the same time, Airbnb is ramping up its use of AI by adding AI-powered review summaries and lodging comparisons, the company said.

The company has been expanding beyond lodging since last year, when it introduced Airbnb Experiences and Services, giving guests the option to book private tours and chef-cooked meals through the app.

In an earnings call earlier this month, the company’s chief executive, Brian Chesky, said the company is at “the very, very beginning of how AI is going to change how we all do our jobs.”

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The changes are coming in time for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, which will take place in 16 cities across the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The company said its offering exclusive World Cup experiences, such as watch parties and access to stadiums.

“In terms of what we’ve seen in cumulative bookings heading into the event, the World Cup is slated to be the largest event in Airbnb’s history,” said the company’s chief financial officer, Ellie Mertz, on the earnings call.

Airbnb gained popularity for offering travelers unique and homey stays on other people’s property, but it added boutique hotel bookings to its platform late last year. The move had some customers questioning if the app was straying too far from its original purpose.

In its announcement this week, the company said it is partnering with more independent hotels in 20 top destinations, including New York, London and Singapore. On the earnings call, Chesky said hotels on Airbnb could become a multibillion-dollar revenue business.

The San Francisco-based company was founded in 2007 and gave homeowners the opportunity to earn money by renting out their space to travelers seeking something different from a hotel. Airbnb bookings can range from private bedrooms in a shared home to luxury mansions and yachts.

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The company’s revenue grew 18% year over year to $2.7 billion in the first quarter, while net income increased slightly to $160 million. Airbnb’s new services and offerings could transform it from a home-sharing platform to a holistic travel marketplace, analysts said.

Shares of the company have increased by 14% over the past six months and fell by less than 1% on Thursday.

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SpaceX files to go public in huge IPO deal

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SpaceX files to go public in huge IPO deal

Elon Musk wants to take investors on a ride to the moon — and beyond.

His pioneering rocket company SpaceX filed Wednesday for what’s expected to be the largest initial public offering in history, potentially raising at least $75 billion and valuing the company at as much as $2 trillion.

The registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an expected public offering next month explicitly sets aside stocks for retail investors, though the exact number will be spelled out in a later filing, as will the offering price and company valuation.

Interest in the stock offering is expected to be high despite the billionaire’s controversial politics, including his involvement last year with the Department of Government Efficiency, the makeshift cost-cutting effort that resulted in the loss of hundreds of thousands of government jobs.

“Potential investors are probably just as polarized as the electorate is too, given his dabbling in politics,” said Carol Schleif, chief market strategist for BMO Private Wealth. “But it’s not just the SpaceX IPO per se, it’s a bigger, broader excitement among investors for space investment in general.”

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Investor interest was piqued by the Artemis II moon mission this year that SpaceX did not participate in, she said. However, the company is expected to play a larger role in future missions that take astronauts to the moon..

Ultimately, Musk, 54, wants to establish a colony on Mars but those plans have been set on the back burner, with NASA now focusing on moon missions.

Musk will remain the company’s chief executive and chairman. Under a dual-class stock structure as a holder of special Class B shares he will be able to control the election of directors, the filing says.

The IPO is expected to be at least twice as large as the current record holder: Saudi Aramco, the state-controlled national oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia, which raised nearly $30 billion in 2019.

Nearly two dozen banks will be underwriting the IPO and offering shares to investors, including Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup.

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Founded in 2002 in El Segundo, SpaceX has revolutionized the aerospace industry by developing the reusable Falcon 9 rocket that has radically lowered launch costs.

The company moved its headquarters from Hawthorne to Texas in 2024. However, SpaceX retains large operations in the South Bay city and blasts off regularly from Vandenberg Space Force Base in Santa Barbara County.

Scores of former SpaceX employees have launched startups in Southern California, including rocket company Relativity Space, hypersonic missile startup Castelion and satellite manufacturer Apex Space.

Since developing its reusable rocket technology, SpaceX has established its Starlink network as the leading satellite-based broadband internet service. It also is moving into satellite-based cellular service and this year merged with Musk’s xAi artificial intelligence company that also included his X social network.

Marco Cáceres, an aerospace analyst at Teal Group, said that the advantage of going public for SpaceX lies in the IPO’s ability to raise a large amount of capital quickly to complete development of its Starship rocket.

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“It is going to dominate the market even more than the Falcon 9 is dominating the market now,” he said. “That’s going to be ultimately what’s going to drive their business for the next 10 years.”

The 12th test launch of Starship is set for Friday from the company’s south Texas launch facility. The rocket is the third version of craft, standing more than 400 feet tall and with about three times the payload of the second version.

The regulatory filing claims that the market for its rocket, internet and mobile telephone businesses could be as large as $28.5 trillion.

SpaceX also plans to launch thousands of orbiting data centers powered by the sun that would perform AI calculations.

With the company making massive capital investments, it recorded a $4.28-billion loss in the first quarter. Last year, it recorded $18.7 billion in revenue and lost $4.94 billion, according to the filing.

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The public offering is expected to hit the market next month after a “road show,” during which SpaceX will seek to drum up interest from institutional and retail investors.

It will arrive after a fairly quiet year for IPOs that was brightened last week when Cerebras Systems, a Sunnyvale company that makes semiconductors for AI supercomputers, went public.

Shares at Cerebras were offered at $185 and jumped 68% on its opening day. They closed Wednesday at $290.69.

Matt Kennedy, a senior strategist at Renaissance Capital, said the SpaceX offering would dwarf that of Cerebras, as it is expected to raise more than every IPO combined in the last two years.

“A win here or a loss could really impact the IPO market,” he said. “The sheer size of this deal is going to make or lose fortunes.”

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Among the oddest disclosures of the IPO is a decision by the company’s board in January to grant Musk 1 billion Class B shares if the company reaches a certain market capitalization and establishes a “permanent human colony on Mars with at least one million inhabitants.”

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Erewhon opens new Southern California location

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Erewhon opens new Southern California location

Erewhon opened its newest location in Glendale on Wednesday, marking the luxury grocer’s 14th store in Southern California with more set to open soon.

The new store, located at 520 N. Glendale Ave., includes the chain’s signature cafe and tonic bar as well as an indoor-outdoor patio space.

Known for its upscale, trendy products and high prices, Erewhon has grown into a tourist destination in Los Angeles and a hot spot for celebrities and influencers.

The Glendale location will bring Erewhon staples to trendy consumers in the area, including the beloved Strawberry Glaze Skin Smoothie, which until last year was named after the model Hailey Bieber.

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Employees at the store handed out complimentary gift bags and fresh flowers during the grand opening Wednesday morning.

“This location was designed to reflect the spirit of the neighborhood while creating a welcoming space to gather, centered around wellness, connection, and a commitment to the quality standards that define Erewhon,” Erewhon President Josephine Antoci said in a statement.

The company purchased the space, which was formerly a hardware store, in 2024.

Erewhon has locations in several of Southern California’s wealthiest areas, including Calabasas and Beverly Hills. It also has stores in Venice, Manhattan Beach and at the Grove.

“Erewhon’s decision to invest in Glendale reflects confidence in our city’s economic future,” Glendale Mayor Ardashes Kassakhian said in a news release.

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The grocer was founded in 1966 by Japanese immigrants Michio and Aveline Kushi — pioneers of the natural-foods macrobiotic movement — who began selling imported organic goods out of their Boston home. In 1969, the company opened its first Los Angeles location on Beverly Boulevard.

Josephine and Tony Antoci bought the company in 2011 and helped launch it to its luxury status with a cult-like following. Tony serves as chief executive while Josephine handpicks much of the store’s merchandise.

By the mid-2010s, Erewhon had become a watering hole for celebrities such as the Kardashians and the Beckhams.

The company has its eye on further expansion. A Thousand Oaks location is slated to open this August and stores in Costa Mesa and downtown Los Angeles are planned for 2027. An Erewhon cafe opened in the Los Angeles County Museum of Art’s new David Geffen Galleries earlier this month.

The Pacific Palisades location, which shut down after the wildfires last year, is set to reopen in January.

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The Glendale Erewhon takes the place of Virgil’s Hardware Home Center, which opened in 1932 and closed in 2019.

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