Chef Andrew Gruel: In California, the right leadership is compromise

The guy who's also in the real world is trying to be right.

If you're watching Fox Nation, you recognize him. Chef Andrew Gruhl, founder of American Gravy Concepts, a restauranteur, entrepreneur, and very strong opinions on anything that we throw at him. Andrew, welcome back.

It's great to be back. Thank you. So there's, I don't blame Jared Bernstein. He's there to advocate for his boss.

Got it. But he's in the numbers. You're in the reality. What are people feeling? It's hurting everybody. I mean, you know, I talk to every one of my guests about things, and I always try and keep our prices low, but there's a certain point at which you can't do it. You have to keep raising the prices. And one of the things that our guests are saying is that they're going out to eat at restaurants all over the place, and now restaurants are adding surcharges, insurance charges, so you can read your bill.

And it's like, you know, it's like reading a Schedule 15. There's 17 different line items to add these costs on because the restaurants and the retail offerings... They have kitchen gratuities now sometimes.

Yeah, yeah. The restaurants and the retailers, they can't even keep up anymore. And that's the reality of Bidenomics, is that on the street, our cost of goods are going up significantly, much higher than the rate in which we're seeing inflation.

And then furthermore, you're getting all these surcharges added on from every single distributor, plus the state, especially in California, adding more taxes, adding more regulations, that it's breaking the back of any small or medium-sized business owner. I think that before you vote for anyone, don't you want to ask them, have you been in a business? Dry cleaner? Deli? Restaurant? Have you done anything? Do you sell sneakers?

Did you go to a flea market? And with your iPhone? And try to slash people in and then see the amount of tax you're paying out. Until you start doing that, you fully don't understand it, do you? They don't understand it, and then let's take the other side of running a business, right? The human element, which actually I think is the biggest part of the business, and the way in which they pretend to care about the workers, but then they ignore what the workers are asking for and what they're saying. These workers, these younger workers who are getting completely crushed and can't even afford a place to live, you know, it's not about giving them handouts, right? They want a strong economy, and they want opportunity, liberty, and freedom to make their own decisions.

They're not being listened to at all. Right. I also think these corporate housings, these corporations, I saw this featured two years ago on 60 Minutes, corporations are going into middle and lower middle class housing, and they're buying them all. And they fix them up, and then they rent them to people, it makes it impossible to buy, and you're going to outbid Blackstone? So you never get the house you spend your whole life renting, that's who we're competing against. Any politician who says I'm going to end that, I think that would work in their benefit.

That would show you you're in the real world. Yeah, well I agree, because a lot of these major corporations, we've seen the way in which they've merged with the government, and it's almost now like one massive entity, it's a monopoly of sorts. And when you get rid of the housing element, and then you give the power to the employer and the large employer to basically hold an employee hostage by way of housing, having it or not having it, well then that creates a whole other power struggle. What are you dealing with right now?

I know you've had your businesses, people didn't like that you spoke up during the pandemic, you called out Gavin Newsom, you called out the president, where are you at now? Well my biggest thing right now in California is dealing with crime, right? And the laws that are coming down. Right now California Senate is spending all of their time passing Senate bills that are going to punish businesses who protect their workers and try and prevent crime. SB 533, look it up, it's the way in which now they're saying OSHA, you have to have an entire framework in place to prevent violent crime, and if you don't then you get penalized by the state, and if any of your employees or the owners actually try and prevent the criminals by fighting back, well then you're in massive trouble. They spend all this time in state resources in order to punish the employers as opposed to actually putting the criminals in jail. Who would be in support of this?

It won the vote 29 to 8, I think, in California, and they just went through appropriations, they amended the bill to make it even harder for people just two days ago, and we're going to see it go into effect July 1, 2024. And they represent the people that you talk to? Yep, yep. But do they really represent the people? No, of course not, that's the point. And most people, if I said SB 533, nobody knows what's going on, this is what California does because it doesn't get covered in California press or media because they know that it's insane, but yet they still do it and waste everybody's time and resources putting this junk together, as opposed to just allowing people to go to jail for committing a crime. I mean, we see on the cover of the New York Post today, we see a 60-year-old woman get beat up by a nine-time convicted criminal who didn't like the fact that she was in his way. She rips the cane out of his hand, he rips the cane out of her hand and beats her up. He doesn't even get arrested, he goes, well, she hit me first, and they let him walk away. And basically the cops feel as though they're not going to be backed anyway, is this the hill I die on?

Or should I just worry about getting home at night? This is not a New York story, though. You talk to Chicago? In Chicago, the mayor came out and said these people on Hondays and these Kias, they should really, they're going to be sued, they should be sued, and he's suing them because it's too easy to steal their car. I mean, I heard this story and I genuinely thought it was the Babylon Bee, I thought it was satire, The Onion.

This is real. In California, San Francisco, I'm talking to restaurateurs all over the place and we're seeing these heritage restaurants shutting down left and right and mass exodus of restaurateurs in what once was one of the greatest culinary cities in the world. And what they're saying is that we're calling the police and the police aren't even getting out of their cars, and that goes to what you just suggested, is that they don't want to lose their jobs, they don't think that they're going to get in trouble for actually enforcing the law.

This is, I mean, it's unbelievable. And the people who live this day in and day out, they're saying, please, somebody just come and help us. Yeah, Andrew Grull is with us now, he's offering his opinions about what it's like trying to make things work. I have no idea why you're still in California. Well, I actually firmly believe that there is hope in California. I mean, you know, Steve Hilton does a great job trying to explain to people and he's really pushing through California to get people to understand that really, there's theoretically a 5% gap here and that people need to stand up.

We think California is a lost cause, but there's a lot of reason and rationale in the common person's mind in California. It's just about exposing these facts, you know, not opinions, but facts, and then ultimately voting the right way. And getting the right candidate.

Yeah. But is the Republican Party organized enough to have a real run? I mean, the last Republican that we saw was Arnold Schwarzenegger, interviewed him many times when he had the job. He really couldn't get much done. He wanted to come in and get things done. He realized he has to deal with Democrats.

And since that time, Republicans haven't sniffed powerful office. Yeah, a lot of people say compromise isn't leadership, but I think the right compromise is leadership. So in California, you know, if you get the right people in office, it might start with a little bit of compromise, but we just need to chip away at that supermajority and then from there, perhaps we take the second step.

So I think there's hope. And I'm in California because, frankly, it is a beautiful state. It's part of our nation currently. And, you know, there's great people there.

You know, it's being bigger than most countries. I lived out there, too. I lived in Malibu in a $500 apartment because I was willing to drive that far. I lived at the bottom of somebody's house. And then he got sick and I basically had the whole house.

More on that later. And then I worked in Ontario. So I was able to have to drive through each day into a small station out there. And then I worked at XTRA All Sports Radio, which originally was just in San Diego.

So I would drive on the weekends all the way down to San Diego. And then they got a station 670 in the mall and the mall, the Topanga Canyon Mall, just got hit by smash and grab. And I go, wait a second, that beautiful mall, they just smash.

That's where the radio station was. And I just can't believe it. They just got hit. What are you going to do? You're not supposed to stop them. You know what?

If I'm just shopping there, I'm looking to pick up some sneakers. Am I going to tackle a guy who just wiped out, you know, a footlocker? Probably not. Heck no.

Heck no. And this is a crime syndicate, too. I think that's important to mention. It's organized. It is organized.

Talk about RICO, right? You know, these are organized criminals. They go in with lists of when they're hitting up these pharmacies, they have a list that they've already sold on back pages. So basically they market it and then they tell people, OK, here's your shopping list.

Go in and steal X, you know, goods. Half of these are kids that are going in because they know they're going to be released even if they do get caught based on the fact that they're first time offenders. So they're using the law to their advantage. They know what they're doing. But why are you optimistic then? Well, I'm optimistic because the people of California, right? Like people recognize that this is absurd. So whether there's going to be some level of vigilantism that takes place and they start pushing back on it. Our best hope are vigilantes. Well, hey, you know what?

Robin Hood, you know, it's a great. You know, you remember Danny Penny, right? Oh, he's the Marine in the in the subway that just wanted to go downtown to go to a class. He looked over and see this harassing everybody, including an old two older African-American women. And he used his skills. He learned as a Marine to suppress the guy. Sadly, he got choked out. And now this guy is fighting for his freedom.

And that's why I think this 60 year old woman and the Harlem subway who gets beat up for no reason. The guy taped it rather than helping because do you want to give up? Maybe this guy's got a family. He works at the MTA.

He's probably not rich. So do you say it's just the hill I die on. We say tape it and she has a chance for justice. I agree.

I agree that there that it's insane. But hey, at least the guy's taping it and getting the information out. Right. You know, I don't know if he's huge. I don't know if I could do that.

This guy was a mountain of a guy, but I probably would have given it a shot. So Phil Flynn weighed in on. He's a market analyst, oil trader. He sees oil and gas going up.

We know the gas is going up. How high is it now in California? Roughly, let's you say, fifty six, seven, eight dollars. Is that a believable eight dollars? Yeah.

So here it's yeah, here's four ten roughly. So that I mean, that's with all the taxes on it and they don't want you to drive it. But they still have to use oil and gas to sustain.

Keep the lights on in California, correct? Oh, yeah. I mean, the grid is ineffective. So here is Phil Flynn talking about everyday life.

Cut thirty six. It's a very scary chart. And a lot of that bread is caused by inflation in government spending.

Right. Government spending's been out of control. People have to pay more for food.

They have to pay more for groceries. And that's when they get behind on these loans. When we keep hearing the economy is doing great and everything is fine. The reality is, is that inflation is affecting everything.

And you see it very clearly in those charts. People can't afford to pay their bills when they can't afford to buy their groceries. And what happens is when you look at your credit card, the interest stop. So you owe more. And after a while, people are like, you know what, I'm just going to make the minimum payment.

We know that's a 50 year program if you don't spend anything. Yeah. And then ultimately they file bankruptcy. Right. I mean, if they don't come to your restaurant to go out to eat. Exactly.

They don't come to my restaurant. You know, I think that right now we're at this edge and we're looking over the cliff. And, you know, we're pushing as hard as we can.

The margins are either non existent or they're so thin. People are still coming to the restaurant, but not at the same rate at which they, you know, they were a year or two ago when, you know, the government printing press was just on full blast. Andrew Grull is here. Andrew, we come back when you took a stand last time is the pandemic restrictions to a degree. They're coming back as the first lady gets covid and in Maryland, they're making elementary schools all mask up, despite the fact that they've really hurt them academically.

And these kids are not in danger at all, especially on this variant. It's not Andrew Grull weighs in. We come back on the Brian Kilmeade show. All right, my fellow Fox across Americans, you probably heard about liver health formula supplement many times. But did you know they already sold over two million bottles?

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You got to love yourself or ain't nobody going to love you, girlfriend. So go to get liver help dot com slash Jimmy now. A talk show that's real. This is the Brian Kilmeade show. If you think back to the origins of the pandemic, these guys use mask mandates and vaccine mandates to effectively talk about half the country as second class citizens. They use these mandates to turn one half the country against the other half of the country.

That's what all tyrants do. That is J.D. Vance talking about he's pushing a no masking again bill on the Senate floor and House floor. Let's see where people stand.

Is that something that's foolhardy? Chef Andrew Gruel wants to weigh in, founder of American Gravy Concepts, very successful entrepreneur in his own right. And for a while was on the Food Network. Right, Andrew? And we'll be on Gutfeld tonight. You got it. You sure you want to do this? You still do.

So your thoughts about what he just said, where are we going with this? Yeah, well, let me tell you this about masks. As somebody who runs a business that relies on proper sanitation, masks are absolutely disgusting.

I think that the unintended consequence of people masking is, is that they have a false sense of security. And then there's bacteria that builds up on these masks that just gets spread all over the place. I hate masks in restaurants for that very reason. It could be spreading so many other viruses and diseases that people they don't wash these masks. You know, if you got proper ventilation in the restaurant, do not wear the masks, period. The masks are ineffective. We know that they're disgusting and they ruin the environment as well. These things don't break down.

They're full of microplastics and they just end up in the ocean. So you want to talk about environmentalism? Oh, yeah. And but we've got to stop it before it's too late in Maryland. It is too late.

An elementary school in Washington, D.C., right outside, right in Maryland, is reinstating school masks for third graders after a handful of kids tested positive COVID-19. And that's what we're going to be talking about. We're going to be talking about it. We're going to be talking about it. We're going to be talking about it.

By the way, it's now a low viral ex post, whatever that means. So now we're going to see something that's no danger to kids. If you have an underlying conditions, if you're dealing with M.S.

or muscular dystrophy or sadly, if you have to deal with some type of going through cancer treatment, that's a different story. But that's for you. You cannot destroy a kid's ability to learn by putting masks on these kids again. Well, I crushed our business. I mean, that's the reality of the situation.

The only reason that we ended up doing well through the pandemic or getting by was because I spoke out and made a target of myself. And then it brought a lot of people in who wanted to support the business. We talk about this parallel economy. But for most businesses where people can't speak out or they don't even understand a lot of these issues because they're trying to just get by and pay rent.

They are going to get crushed again. The mere presence of masks scares people. And it's that signal that we should be scared when people are scared. They don't go out when they don't go out, they don't spend money.

And then we start to see things retract when it comes to the economic element. So I want you to Rand Paul said last night, cut 18. It's a crime against children and we should never put our kids back in the masks. Right now, I'm having a battle with the Senate physician who wants to do three vaccines for all of our pages.

They're 18 years old and we now know that guess what? In America, not one healthy child died from COVID. I repeat that, not one.

The number is zero. And yet we're forcing three vaccines and we now know that the more vaccines you give to children, the higher the incidence of the heart inflammation. So it's actually a malpractice to do this. And I'm fighting them because in the Senate, they're still trying to force every page that comes in here, young, healthy people to be triple vaxxed.

And it actually is against medical advice to be doing that. Is he is he dust in the wind or does he speak for people that, you know, Andrew? Oh, he speaks for a lot more people than what about liberals like the actor actors type to come to your place?

Yep. And I'll tell you what, the reason I know this is that all these kind of contemporaries in my field write to me privately. Thank you for speaking out. We 100 percent agree with you.

We're not going to speak out because we're afraid to, but we're going to keep giving you props for doing so. Look, I've got four kids from the ages of two to twelve. They will never see a mask ever again. And if a school makes them? We took them out of school. We homeschool them. You homeschool them?

They go into a pod program. It's a turning point school. And they're in that school and they're happy and they play with other kids.

There's 90 kids in the school and then we do the extra work at home. All right. Andrew Grull will watch you tonight on Gutfelt. Thank you. Please don't say hi for me. Listen to this show ad-free on Fox News Podcast Plus, on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music with your Prime membership, or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.