Recently, the famous chef and CEO of American Gravy Restaurant Group, Andrew Gruel, commented on the decaying state of California, where conditions are reportedly becoming too difficult to conduct business. Gruel called out anti-business policies, rising crime rates, and other problems businesses face in the Golden State.
In light of the endless problems in California, Gruel unapologetically stated that he would never again pursue opening another restaurant in the state. Instead, the chef opts to take his entrepreneurial efforts to other, presumably more functional states.
“I will never open another restaurant in California ever again, I’ll only open outside of California. I’ll never open another business in California ever again. And two years ago, I didn’t think I would say that but that is the case today,” the chef stated.
Gruel expounded upon the tangible impact out-of-control crime is inflicting on California, outlining the effects on businesses and consumers. While people are most familiar with the highly publicized smash-and-grab incidents, the CEO highlighted a little-known problem of remote scamming that impacts businesses.
“So the increase in crime in California specifically, significantly affects both the consumer and the business owners. So 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 smashing grab, or even if it’s more than like the scammers, right, so that’s not covered as much because the smashing 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 gonna get busted for it right and it’s much easier to do remotely or as some sort of like a dine and dash,” Gruel said.
The legendary chef further explained how crime trends have dissuaded consumer activity as potential customers are driven away by the dangers posed after dark. Gruel also illustrated the financial impact this is having on his business, which translates to a significant loss in revenue.
“For the customers, they don’t want to come out at night. Right? Like we’re our sales after 7pm are incredibly low where they used to spill into 9pm. The customers are also not carrying cash on them. 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 you know, cash is always King. We paid 3% 4% Almost processing fees on credit cards. So we’re saving a lot more on the cash Hey, on $2 million a year in sales, you know, 4% is $80,000. Right? So that’s a lot. That’s a lot. That’s not just pennies.” he said.
Ultimately, Gruel noted that while California has many redeeming qualities, the downsides to the state outweigh the positives. However, the chef claimed that if the right-minded people would show out and vote, extraordinary changes would occur in the state.
“So these are some of the ways that it affects the end of the day, you know, kind of bottom line business. We’ve definitely thought about leaving California but California is so beautiful in and of itself. It’s got this natural beauty, and I don’t think California is so far gone that it’s just a lost cause I firmly believe there’s probably 5 to 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. 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. However, at the time, I’m here I’m fighting I’m fighting behind enemy lines. Now we are going to expand our businesses out of California,” he said.
Note: Featured image is a screenshot from the embedded video.
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