{"id":139595,"date":"2026-07-19T08:00:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/california-pizza-kitchen-founder-says-california-has-become-too-difficult-for-entrepreneurs-139595"},"modified":"2026-07-19T08:00:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T12:00:43","slug":"california-pizza-kitchen-founder-says-california-has-become-too-difficult-for-entrepreneurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cablemanpro.com\/wallstreetpr\/california-pizza-kitchen-founder-says-california-has-become-too-difficult-for-entrepreneurs-139595","title":{"rendered":"California Pizza Kitchen founder says California has become too difficult for entrepreneurs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

California Pizza Kitchen<\/a> brought the Golden State’s dining culture to Americans across the country for decades. More than 40 years later, one of the chain’s co-founders says that if he had to start over, he wouldn’t necessarily pick California.<\/p>\n

“If it were me today, I would open in Florida<\/a> before I would open it in California,” California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Rick Rosenfield told Fox News Digital. “I think it has a lot going for it. The difference is [it’s] very business friendly and California is less business friendly today, and they make it apparent.”<\/p>\n

Rosenfield said that when he and California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Larry Flax started the restaurant chain, the business environment in California was “really good.” In fact, Rosenfield told Fox News Digital that decades ago he would’ve said that “California is the greatest place to do business.”<\/p>\n

“We have 365 days a year of great weather. We have a great labor base, great demographics, great densities. And people would say, ‘What keeps you up at night?’ I would say, ‘A snowstorm in the winter on a weekend for the malls,’ right? That’s not true today,” he said.<\/p>\n

BILL MAHER, WOODY HARRELSON SOUND OFF ON CALIFORNIA BUSINESS CLIMATE, SAY STATE DESERVES TO BE ‘S— ON’<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Several major companies have moved their headquarters out of California in recent years, including Chevron, Oracle and Tesla. The Texas Comptroller’s Office<\/a> recorded 157 California companies that relocated their headquarters to the Lone Star State<\/a> between 2015 and 2024.<\/p>\n

Rosenfield said California’s business climate changed dramatically following the COVID-19 pandemic, citing labor shortages, increased regulation and rising costs, including the minimum wage. Under a minimum wage law<\/a> that went into effect in California on April 1, 2024, all eligible fast-food restaurant employees<\/a> had to be paid at least $20.00 per hour.<\/p>\n

The California Pizza Kitchen co-founder said the restaurant typically paid employees more than the minimum wage, but argued that increases to the wage floor still cause a ripple effect throughout the restaurant, as employees earning above the minimum would often also expect raises as well.<\/p>\n

Rosenfield noted that restaurants often operate<\/a> on thin margins, something that is backed up by data from the National Restaurant Association<\/a> (NRA). According to the NRA, food and labor costs account for around 33 cents of every dollar in restaurant sales. At the same time, other expenses, such as utilities, supplies, repairs and credit card processing fees, among others, represented approximately 29% of sales combined. The NRA states that the average restaurant is often left with a pre-tax margin of around 5%.<\/p>\n

CALIFORNIA RESTAURANT OWNER HITS PARENTS OF BRATTY KIDS WITH HEFTY FINES FOR TRASHING HIS BUSINESS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Businesses don’t simply eat the costs and are often forced to raise prices<\/a>, thus passing the expense along to customers, Rosenfield warned.<\/p>\n

“The mantra is, well, ‘We’re going to tax businesses.’ ‘We’re going make the businesses pay more.’ But it isn’t just the businesses that pay more, it’s a customer that pays more. Because what happens, you raise costs, you raise minimum wage, businesses have to respond to that,” he said.<\/p>\n

Rosenfield argued that California’s higher labor costs have made affordability a challenge, saying businesses have little choice but to recover those costs through higher prices.<\/p>\n

“From what I understand, it’s been very harmful to the restaurant businesses in California,” he said.<\/p>\n

The challenges facing entrepreneurs in California have made states like Florida more attractive to those looking to start a business, according to Rosenfield. Two years ago, the California Pizza Kitchen co-founder moved to the Sunshine State. While he’s not doing business there, he says he is attuned to what is happening in Florida, which he says is a “very business-friendly state.”<\/p>\n

“Florida is quite friendly. There’s less bureaucracy in Florida and there’s more bureaucracy [in] California, and that’s basically my experience,” Rosenfield told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n

Florida has shown strong numbers in recent years when it comes to business in the Sunshine State. The Florida State Department’s<\/a> Division of Corporations reported that entrepreneurs filed 561,143 new domestic limited liability companies (LLCs) in 2025, marking the fifth consecutive year the state recorded more than 500,000 new LLC filings. This trend has been sustained for a number of years. In 2023, Florida had the third-highest rate of new business applicants per 1,000 residents, with 29.4, according to Axios<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked about Rosenfield’s comments about Florida and California’s business environments, Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office told Fox News Digital, “Florida Pizza Kitchen doesn\u2019t have the same ring to it. We are proud that they are headquartered here and that nearly half of all their restaurants nationwide are in California.”<\/p>\n

CLICK HERE FOR MORE COVERAGE OF MEDIA AND CULTURE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Despite his praise for Florida and his assessment that certain areas of the Sunshine State are hot for business, Rosenfield acknowledges that California is still “an economic powerhouse.”<\/p>\n

“[It] still has the great weather, still has a great labor base, but for the restaurant business and for other businesses, it’s just not as friendly,” he said. “Of course you could start a business in California, but people are leaving.”<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Rosenfield said he hopes California becomes more welcoming to businesses again, arguing that government policy plays a significant role in creating a business climate that encourages entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

“You have a supermajority in California that enacts business-unfriendly laws, and that’s uncomfortable,” Rosenfield said. “I didn’t operate in that environment. I was in a much more friendly environment.”<\/p>\n

He argued that failing to create a more business-friendly environment risks discouraging the next generation of entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n

“When you bash businesses, it’s not encouraging for entrepreneurs,” he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source – https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/media\/california-pizza-kitchen-founder-says-california-become-too-difficult-entrepreneurs <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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