There's always been a bit of an awkward mismatch between California's favorite fast-food chain and the born-again Christian family that owns and operates it, and that is being highlighted once again with a social media uproar over CEO Lynsi Snyder saying she's moving to Tennessee.

Snyder, 43, is on husband number four and credits Jesus with saving her from drug and alcohol addiction and her previous poor choices in men. She is the sole heir to the In-N-Out empire, which was founded by her grandparents Harry and Esther Snyder in Baldwin Park, California in 1948. In 2012, when she turned 30, she became the sole beneficiary of multiple family trusts and became sole owner of the company, and has served as its presdent since 2010.

In-N-Out has been expanding to other (mostly red) states under her leadership, and the company announced a new headquarters in Tennessee and plans to open 35 new locations there earlier this year. Those will be served by a distribution hub in Texas, so the Nashville Business Journal has surmised that states along the route between Texas and Tennessee could be next up for expansion.

But Snyder has really got Californians incensed after she went on a Christian podcast to discuss why California is a difficult place for raising children and doing business, and why she's personally moving to Tennessee.

"There are a lot of great things about California, but raising a family is not easy here," Snyder said in the podcast released late last week. "Doing business is not easy here."

The blog of Christian group Focus on the Family seized on this with the headline "In-N-Out Announces California is Out and Tennessee Is In," though that isn't exactly accurate, since the vast majority (280) of In-N-Out's 423 locations, are in California.

As the New York Times reports, In-N-Out's Instagram account has since been flooded with comments from unhappy customers in California, saying things like, "Be truthful and just say you want to go to Tennessee to pay yourself more since they don't have income tax. You don't want to support California which made your family rich."

Also: "Your fries taste like cardboard... As someone who left Tennessee for CA you’re fixing to learn a lesson…"

This prompted a special "Message from Lynsi Snyder," with her doing a voice-over on a video montage of happy employees and customers, posted to the company's account Monday night.

"I’m very proud of where In-N-Out started. Anyone who knows me knows how often I talk about our beginnings and how our Customers here in California helped bring us to where we are today," Snyder says in the text of the post. And in the voice-over she talks about how expanding to Tennessee will give employees the opportunity, potentially, to own homes in a more affordable area — but not if they only pay Tennessee's minimum wage of $7.25/hour, which is less than half of California's, or just a couple bucks more!

The announcement also clarifies that In-N-Out is not moving its corporate headquarters out of Baldwin Park, where the company started, merely opening an "Eastern Territory office" in Franklin, Tennessee. The company did previously announce in February that it was closing its offices in Irvine and consolidating West Coast operations to Baldwin Park over the next several years. Around 200 of the 500 employees at the Irvine corporate office were expected to be relocating to Tennessee.

The Franklin offices are expected to be ready to be occupied by late 2026.

"Opening an office far from our roots is something new and exciting," Snyder says. "It brings incredible opportunities for the people we love and the Customers we serve."

The company clearly has its sights set on further expansion, but in the podcast Snyder said that Florida would not be happening anytime soon, despite Ron DeSantis's best efforts.

Anyway, perhaps customers in Tennessee will be less creeped out than many Californians are by the Bible verses in small print on In-N-Out's cups and food packaging — something that was actually started by Lynsi's uncle Rich Snyder, back in the 80s or 90s.

Previously: Florida Now Courting In-N-Out Because Ron DeSantis Loves a Vaccine Fight