Restaurant owner exposes harsh reality of doing business in California: 'An unhealthy ecosystem'

"Sage Regenerative Kitchen and Brewery" is a farm-to-table organic restaurant in Los Angeles, CA

Los Angeles restaurant owner Mollie Engelhart is sounding the alarm over California's tornado of far-Left policies, arguing that the state's business climate is "driving" specific people "out."

"These things don't fit together. And I don't know why California is driving businesses like me out. Organic farmer, chef. I employed 350 people before the pandemic, and they're driving people like me out. It doesn't make sense," she argued during an appearance on "Varney & Co."

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Engelhart's comments come in wake of California Governor Gavin Newsom's new minimum wage hike, which has posed an unprecedented obstacle for her, and many other small businesses. 

"Everybody wants their employees to be paid well, but you can't just raise [the] minimum wage and not think that it affects everything else. It's an unhealthy ecosystem. The economics in California, the pieces no longer fit together. When I open this restaurant 13 years ago, a server could live in this neighborhood, have an apartment, go on vacation, and have savings in the bank," Engelhart spotlighted earlier this week.

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"Now, people either are commuting very far because they can't afford to live in this neighborhood, which is not a very nice neighborhood anymore anyway."

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"A condo costs $1.2 million. A small apartment condo in Pasadena. How can that work? Like, who can have the job to be able to pay for that apartment?"

In addition to its financial struggles, the "Sage Regenerative Kitchen and Brewery" found itself in unexpected hot water after Engelhart announced that she was adding meat and dairy products to her formerly vegan menu. 

Protesters took over her restaurant and repeatedly chanted "Chef Mollie has blood on her hands," forcing her to close her business on Father's Day. 

"If they're mad, go protest McDonald's."

"13 years we've been a vegan restaurant, and I believe that that was the best pathway forward for human health and for the soil and for the planet. And I realized over the years that that was not true. I became a farmer to deal with all of our food waste from the restaurants," the restaurant owner explained on Wednesday.

"I started to realize there is no agriculture without death. That is an illusion. And we need to support American farmers that are doing the right thing, that are really letting the animals have a better life and doing the right thing for the soil."

Los Angeles, CA - September 28:Gov. Gavin Newsom signs legislation raising California fast food workers minimum wage to $20 an hour at SEIU Local 721 in Los Angeles on Thursday, September 28, 2023. Newsom gave Anneisha Williams, who works at Jack in ( Sarah Reingewirtz/MediaNews Group/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images) / Getty Images)

Engelhart revealed that there has been "nonstop" pushback on social media since the restaurant made the announcement six weeks ago, and that they have been "really struggling" ever since.

We're a family business. I have five children, and so this is just crazy. If they're mad, go protest McDonald's or somebody else. To protest a small family business doing farm-to-table with local organic and regenerative farms, it's the opposite of what I believe they're committed to," Engelhart stated