I highly doubt Xavier Becerra spends much time eating at the street taco vendors he’s now telling Californians to visit.
These vendors are typically found in lower-income neighborhoods, under freeway overpasses, in parking lots, or on the outskirts of town. They often operate late at night with food prepared on folding tables under tents, with limited or no permanent hand-washing stations, and many are cash-only operations.
Most politicians in California don’t wander far away from their comfortable cocktail parties.
And yes: Chefs love the street vendors because the food can be authentic and usually costs a fraction of what you’d pay at a brick-and-mortar restaurant (and we are used to eating anything; chefs are crazy when it comes to food).
I highly doubt Xavier Becerra spends much time eating at the street taco vendors he’s now telling Californians to visit. X/@XavierBecerra
These vendors are typically found in lower-income neighborhoods, under freeway overpasses, in parking lots, or on the outskirts of town. Getty Images
But it costs less for a reason.
In California, restaurants have to pay the highest commercial rent along with property taxes, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, liability insurance, utilities, health permits, business licenses, fire inspections, grease trap maintenance, credit card fees, accountants, lawyers and equipment costs — and comply with some of the most burdensome labor laws in America.
We spend thousands of dollars every year just to earn the privilege of opening our doors.
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The trade-off is that customers also get the protections that come with those costs: permanent hand-washing stations, refrigeration standards, temperature controls, inspections and accountability.
When those safeguards aren’t followed, people get sick; that’s why health departments exist (although not always; that’s another piece for another time).
Knowing all of that, the former secretary of health and human services (and current gubernatorial candidate) is now encouraging people to eat from food operations that often aren’t held to the same standards his own department spent decades promoting.
In California, restaurants have to pay the highest commercial rent along with property taxes, payroll taxes, workers’ compensation insurance, unemployment insurance, liability insurance, utilities, health permits, business licenses, fire inspections, grease trap maintenance, credit card fees, accountants, lawyers and equipment costs Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The irony is almost too much to believe!
Becerra’s stupid comments, however, are just the backdrop. The real story is the message he’s sending to every restaurant owner in California: “Don’t bother playing by the rules. We politicians would rather celebrate the people who don’t.”
If a licensed restaurant cuts corners, California will fine it, sue it or shut it down. If an unlicensed sidewalk operation cuts corners, Beccera celebrates it as authentic California culture.
Perhaps this is because street vendors are one of the few places left where Californians can still afford to eat.
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After years of higher taxes, skyrocketing labor costs, endless regulations, frivolous labor lawsuits and the highest cost of doing business in the country, politicians like Xavier Becerra have helped make restaurants so expensive that families simply can’t afford them anymore.
But rather than asking why restaurant prices have climbed so dramatically, the new sales pitch is this: Forget the restaurants; eat on the sidewalk.
This sounds like an admission of failure by way of distraction.
California’s restaurant industry once employed nearly 1.8 million people, making it one of the largest private-sector employers in the state and the greatest engine of opportunity for young people, immigrants and aspiring entrepreneurs and failed actors. Today, the industry is bleeding.
So what is Xavier Becerra’s plan to revive one of California’s most important industries? There isn’t one. X/@XavierBecerra
Cole’s French Dip survived 118 years before closing, with its longtime operator citing the crushing cost of doing business in California. Sweet Lady Jane closed all six of its locations. In Los Angeles alone, dozens of well-known restaurants have disappeared in recent years.
Every closure means jobs lost, dreams crushed, neighborhoods diminished — and another reminder that California has become one of the hardest places in America to run a business.
So what is Xavier Becerra’s plan to revive one of California’s most important industries? There isn’t one.
Because if he offers a solution, he tacitly admits he and his party were the cause of the chaos.
So instead, he just distracts people from the problem. Maybe it’s easier to praise the businesses that don’t have to live under California’s rules than to admit those rules crush the operations that do.
Andrew Gruel is a chef, television host, and member of the Huntington Beach City Council.
