A California-based celebrity chef loves the "natural beauty" of the state and will continue to run his existing locations, but said any new locations or businesses will open elsewhere as crime and "horribly ineffective policies" impact small business owners.
"I will never open another restaurant in California ever again. I'll only open outside of California," Chef Andrew Gruel told Fox News Digital.
Gruel, the CEO and founder of American Gravy Restaurant Group, operates multiple restaurants across California, including Calico Fish House and Big Parm Pizza.
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Crime in California has skyrocketed in recent years with a 9.13% increase in violent crime from 2018 through 2022, according to the state’s Department of Justice. But many restaurants and small business are more impacted by "non-violent" crimes.
Prop 47, passed by California voters in 2014, turned previous "non-violent" felony property crimes like commercial burglary, possession of stolen property and grand theft into misdemeanors. As a result, California finds itself mired in a situation in which crime is surging, violent criminals are released from prison early, and videos have gone viral on social media of looters brazenly walking out of stores with merchandise.
"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? 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," Gruel continued.
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As for customers, Gruel said many California residents are hesitant to go out at night and when they do, they’re unlikely to carry cash.
"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.
While servers suffer from not receiving cash tips, restaurant owners are also hit with credit card processing fees.
"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."
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Gruel, along with his wife and business partner Lauren, who is also a chef, have considered leaving California altogether because of crimes, taxes, and other regulations. He said commodities are often more expensive in California because of taxes, and layers of bureaucracy in the Golden State add additional costs for business owners. So far, they’ve resisted the temptation to relocate and are hopeful the state can resolve its issues.
"California is so beautiful in and of itself," Gruel said.
"I don't think California is so far gone that it's just a lost cause. 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," he continued. "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."
In the meantime, Gruel is going to do whatever he can to bring awareness to the issues plaguing small business owners across the state.
"I'm here, I'm fighting, I'm fighting behind enemy lines," Gruel said.
Fox News’ Emma Colton and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
