For 77 years, In-N-Out Burger has been headquartered in California.
That is about to change.
From Albert Jinwoo You’s article for biz.chozun.com:
The hamburger brand ‘In-N-Out Burger,’ representing the United States, is leaving California, where it has rooted for 77 years since its founding.
The In-N-Out management cited increasingly stringent state government regulations and deteriorating public safety as reasons for the transfer of its headquarters. There have even been remarks that ‘the Democratic stronghold is becoming a graveyard for corporations’ as policy experiments led by the progressive camp clash with the logic of corporate survival.
On the 21st (local time), In-N-Out drew the attention of the U.S. industry due to the so-called headquarters transfer issue. Lynsi Snyder (43), granddaughter of the founder and the current owner, declared in a recent podcast interview that she would move the headquarters to Tennessee and relocate herself as well.
Snyder said, ‘California has many good points, but raising children or doing business here is no longer easy.’
Ok. So In-N-Out is heading out of town. But is In-N-out just a one-and-out, or is a trend of some kind?
The following excerpt from an article at orangecountylawyers.com (?), which cites a study from professors at Chapman University and UC-Irvine, seems to provide what I think is a logical answer (the bold print is mine):
“The things that drive people to leave a place are trying to find basic housing that they can afford and the jobs that pay them something,” Professor Toplansky told California Insider on YouTube. “Right now, the rate of job creation in places like Texas, Utah and Arizona, which have lower costs of living than we do, are just going higher than ours.”
The study, funded by the CEO Leadership Alliance of Orange County, found that 79% of jobs created in California pay below the U.S. median income rate and California’s population growth or maintenance is highly related to migration from outside the United States. In fact, the Golden state is home to 10.6 million immigrants, according to the Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC).
“The people who have been moving out of California are exactly those you want to be in California,” Toplansky said. “These are people who are smart, who are making well above the average pay and so the companies that employ those people are moving out of state and [these workers] are moving along with them.”
In other words, it isn’t just that there are a lot of lower-paying jobs in California, it is that they are replacing the people in higher-paying jobs at higher-end companies, who are joining In-N-Out Burger and heading out of town.
And who is responsible for this? Who runs California?
The answer is that this has happened in sync with Democrats taking over and predominating (i.e. the Governor, both Senators, a 60-19 majority in the State Assembly and a 40-10 majority in the State Senate).
Congratulations to them. It is their policies that are driving businesses out of state. How proud they must be.
And as for California’s voters? This is what they put in office. I hope they are happy with the result.
