Celebrity chef Andrew Gruel loves California’s natural beauty but won’t open new restaurants there due to crime and “horribly ineffective policies.”
He runs existing locations but highlights the impact of rising crime on businesses and consumers.
Gruel points to Prop 47 and its effects, including increased non-violent crimes and challenges for both businesses and customers. (Trending: Bud Light Gets Bad News Ahead of Christmas)
He discussed the difficulties faced by servers and business owners, considering leaving California due to crime, taxes, and regulations.
“I will never open another restaurant in California ever again,” promised Chef Andrew Gruel.
“I’ll only open outside of California,” he continued.
“The increase in crime in California specifically significantly affects both the consumer and the business owners,” Gruel said.
“From the business owners’ perspective, now we need to prepare for the inevitable crime that’s about to hit, whether it’s burglaries, whether it’s smash-and-grabs, or even if it’s scammers, right?” said the entrepreneur.
Adding, “So that’s not covered as much because the smash-and-grab stuff makes the headlines, but it’s the scammers, it’s all these little scams, everybody’s trying to rip you off because under $900, you’re not going to get busted for it.”
“Well, that’s an issue because we want our customers to tip in cash because that’s much easier for the servers to get the cash that night when they tip in cash and cash is always king,” he said.
“Hey, on $2 million a year in sales, you know, 4% is $80,000, right? So that’s a lot,” Gruel said.
“That’s not just pennies. So, these are some of the ways that it affects the end of the day… bottom line business.”
“California is so beautiful in and of itself,” Gruel admitted.
“I don’t think California is so far gone that it’s just a lost cause,” he explained.
“I firmly believe there’s probably 5-7% of California that needs to just vote reasonably and we’re actually going to be able to take some power back. And there’s regional power as well.”
Adding, “But a lot of things are happening on a state level where they’re consolidating that supermajority that could make it very difficult on a go-forward basis to change some of these horribly ineffective policies.”
Gruel hopes for positive change in the state and aims to raise awareness about issues affecting small business owners.
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