Andy Puzder's business geography lesson

The Midwesterner who heads the parent company of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s isn’t a fan of the West Coast, particularly Oregon and the concern’s home state of California. But it’s not personal, insists Andy Puzder. It’s business. The fast-food business.

“It depends on what state you are in,” he explained Thursday to financial analysts. Some are just easier than others for a restaurant chain to navigate these days, he explained.

Texas, for instance, is “more business friendly,” said Puzder, without explaining why. Not coincidentally, “we are targeting a large percentage of our growth in Texas,” he noted.

That rev-up in the Lone Star State will lessen the importance of California to the Carl’s Jr. burger chain, which was founded in the southern part of the state and still has the bulk of its units there. Puzder has remarked in the past that the state’s high unemployment, wheezing economy and taxing regulatory environment are a significant burden on Carl’s.

But at least it’s better than Oregon, he remarked. The state “has a higher minimum wage and a similar regulatory structure as California and also has a similar socialist type government,” he said, “so the business there actually can be as bad or worse than California. And I think their unemployment rate is higher.”

Arizona, said Puzder, is also a challenging market, partly because of the drop in tourism and “issues with immigration.”

In general, he said, “illegal immigrants leaving one state for another state will hurt the restaurant business in the state they leave, not because we can't employ them but where do you think those guys eat?”

In contrast to Carl's units in Oregon, stores in Washington State are doing fine, Puzder indicated. And Texas, where Carl’s now has some 25 stores?

“Texas is doing real well,” said Puzder.

“Meaningful geographical diversification in Texas should also improve our brands’ short and long-term prospects,” he noted.

Puzder came to CKE Restaurants, the parent of Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s, via the latter brand, which is headquartered in St. Louis.
He was brought aboard as an attorney, but showed an aptitude and appreciation for the business.

But now, based outside Anaheim, he’s clearly not yet developed an affinity for its location.

California about to ban plastifoam?

California is "on the verge" of passing a statewide ban on Styrofoam, Michael Oshman, executive director of the Green Restaurant Association, told a thinly populated room of restaurateurs at the New York restaurant show.

Oshman also warned that legislation discouraging or banning the use of plastic bags is sweeping the nation.

Oshman was addressing why restaurateurs should consider making their operations and menus more environmentally friendly. One of the advantages of acting now, he stressed, was looking like a forward-thinker before green measures are mandated by law. "It's going to happen anyway. Why not look like a hero?" he said.

And rest assure, he addedr, green "legislation is going to shoot up even more than it has already."

Oshman noted that a number of municipalities in California have already banned plastifoam. They include several cities in the Bay Area. The next step would be rolling the ban across the state, and asserted the state government is already close to doing so.

Ah-nold, what are you doing?

You have to question the wisdom of furloughing employees of California's Department of Public Health during the ongoing four-alarm salmonella outbreak. Yet the staffers were among the thousands who were forced to skip work on Friday.

At least schools and other foodservice facilities could look for assistance on the department's website.

The Division of Workers' Compensation, another agency known to many California restaurateurs, was also shut for the day.

Governor Schwarzenegger ordered the two-days-a-month furloughs as a way of contending with the state's gaping financial deficit. The next furlough day is set for the second Friday from now.