California has become increasingly unfriendly toward businesses, prompting Rick Rosenfield, co-founder of California Pizza Kitchen, to reconsider launching new ventures in his home state.
Rosenfield, who started the popular restaurant chain with Larry Flax in Beverly Hills back in 1985, expressed that if he were to start a new company today, Florida would be the first place on his list—rather than California.
“If I were me today, I would open in Florida before I open in California,” he noted, adding that “California today is not very business-friendly, that much is clear.”
Famous for its unique California-style pizza—especially its barbecue chicken pie—the chain now boasts 185 locations, many still in California. However, Rosenfield believes that the state, which once helped shape the brand, has become more challenging for business owners.
He remarked on how California used to be a “great place to do business” a decade ago, but he sees a marked decline following the pandemic, pointing to issues like labor shortages and increasing costs, alongside concerns about the state’s fast-food minimum wage law. California Pizza Kitchen even filed for bankruptcy protection in 2020 due to the pandemic’s impact.
Rosenfield relocated to Florida in 2024, as reported by the Los Angeles Times, and stated that the stark differences between the two states are hard to overlook. “Florida is very friendly,” he explained. “There’s less bureaucracy in Florida and more in California. That’s basically my experience.”
This feedback mirrors a larger trend of corporations leaving California, significantly altering the state’s business landscape. Major companies like McKesson Corporation and Charles Schwab moved their headquarters to Texas in 2019, followed by Oracle and Hewlett Packard Enterprise in 2020, and Tesla in 2021. Even Chevron and SpaceX plan to relocate their operations there in 2024, with Elon Musk and the long-established energy company citing regulatory concerns as key factors.
Nevertheless, Rosenfield reflects on California’s image as once being one of the restaurant’s strongest assets. The name California Pizza Kitchen was chosen specifically to stand out—advisors warned that a traditional Italian name would get lost in the mix.
“They said, ‘With that name, if we opened in Providence, it would just be an Italian restaurant,’” he recalled. “But if you’re opening a California Pizza Kitchen in Providence, we want to see what your fruit and nuts are doing.”
This argument ultimately swayed their decision. Rosenfield believes the California name holds global recognition and symbolizes attributes such as health, innovation, and energy. His book, “The California Pizza Kitchen Story: How Two Federal Prosecutors Changed the Way America Eats Pizza,” just hit the shelves on July 21.
