California Pizza Kitchen co-founder Rick Rosenfield says California is no longer the right place to start the restaurant chain and that he would choose Florida if he were launching the business today. Rosenfield’s comments, reported by the Los Angeles Times, suggest he believes conditions in California have become too difficult for new businesses. In the Los Angeles Times account, he frames Florida as the alternative he would pick rather than California.
A separate report by the Daily Mail similarly quotes Rosenfield and presents his remarks as part of a broader comparison between where he would establish the company now versus where it was created. The Daily Mail report emphasizes that Rosenfield once considered California the “greatest place to do business,” while indicating that his view has changed over time. Across both sources, the central point is that Rosenfield does not think California would be his first choice for founding the chain today, citing increasing business challenges, and he points to Florida as a preferred location.
