TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Although In-N-Out Burger recently rebuffed an invitation from Florida leaders to relocate to the Sunshine State, the state's chief financial officer said he won't stop trying to entice the popular California-based burger chain.
Florida CFO Jimmy Patronis said Wednesday on Twitter that the state has "millions of residents who are hungry for" In-N-Out Burger, "so I plan on keeping at it."
"After all -- you miss 100% of the shots you don't take," Patronis said. "Floridians love this business and they're enthusiastic about it."
Florida is a beacon of freedom and we’ve got millions of residents who are hungry for @inandoutburger, so I plan on keeping at it. After all - you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Floridians love this business and they’re enthusiastic about it. pic.twitter.com/rKGVVYwRvW
— Jimmy Patronis (@JimmyPatronis) November 11, 2021
In-N-Out CEO Lynsi Snyder-Ellingson had a telephone conversation with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier this week after the company's highly publicized spat with California health officials over proof-of-vaccination requirements.
During Monday's call, DeSantis invited In-N-Out to move to Florida, but Arnie Wensinger, the company's chief legal and business officer, said in a statement that In-N-Out "has no plans or intention to expand operations or move its corporate headquarters to Florida."
Some In-N-Out establishments in the San Francisco area were forced to close for failing to enforce ordinances requiring indoor diners to show either proof of a COVID-19 vaccination or a negative test result, prompting a rebuke from Wensinger, who noted that the company will not serve as the "vaccination police for any government."
That led to Patronis sending Snyder-Ellingson a letter asking her to consider Florida, calling it "free and open for business."
Snyder-Ellingson is the sole grandchild of In-N-Out's founders and heiress to the burger chain, which has no locations east of Texas.
"It's not a question of IF but WHEN they move assets to Florida," Patronis wrote in a message he shared on Twitter. "They're going to get shutdown again, they're going to be forced into enforcing things like mandates and vaccine passports, and they're going to continue to be taken for granted by a state that's got no problem crushing businesses."