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September 15, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

Fatburger returns to the SCV

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

Over at The Signal, Jana Adkins writes about Fatburger’s return to the SCV (they had two franchises here in the late 90s, but both closed in the mid aughts) and how the City is assisting the company in finding local workers:

Fatburger is coming to town, and the Santa Clarita WorkSource Center is holding a recruitment event Friday at 10 a.m. for job-seekers.

Hiring for part-time positions, the eatery is looking for restaurant people to work in the restaurant and serve as cooks at the new location expected to open on The Old Road.

“We actually help to recruit on behalf of any interested employer,” said Jessica Jackson, communications specialist with the city of Santa Clarita.

“We connect job-seekers to employers looking to fill available positions,” Jackson said. “Fatburger requested assistance.”

Dive into Fatburger a bit, and you’ll find it’s a fast food chain with some interesting history. For a long time I thought Magic Johnson had a stake in the chain, and he did, until about 2003. That’s when an investor with a checkered history (including a stint in jail for fraud) took over the firm, and now his company, Fog Cutter Capital, is expanding the restaurant by 30 locations in 2011.

Apparently Santa Clarita is on his list.

So what are we to make of this story? Well, essentially what we have here is the City of Santa Clarita (through its no doubt earnest and hardworking people at the Workforce Development Center) functioning as the HR department for a millionaire’s holding company which owns a burger joint with name recognition. I mean, Fog Cutter could do what normal companies do when looking for workers: advertise in newspapers, Craigslist, and Monster.com, but why do that when a local government is willing to advertise and screen applicants for you for free?

Dollars to hamburgers doughnuts Fog Cutter is taking advantage of the City’s enterprise zone program too, which means they get a kickback on taxes for every fry cook they hire.

And for what? What do we the people of Santa Clarita get out of this deal? Part time fry cooks. That’s right. Part time fast food restaurant jobs that probably won’t even offer health insurance or other benefits (thereby offloading such burdens to the state).

I hate to read stories like this because I want Santa Clarita to become a destination for real businesses. I want the City to put its resources towards attracting high quality businesses, so our residents don’t have to hump it over the hill every day. I know it’s hard work, but we’ve done it before (Princess, Spectra Labs, etc).

Fatburger though? These are not the jobs we are looking for.

Alas, this will be spun as a successful outcome of City programs and so don’t be surprised when you see photos of members of the City Council at the Fatburger grand opening, hailing the success of this venture as they cut the ribbon with their giant novelty scissors.

Comments (20)

  1. IHeartSCVSeptember 15, 2011 at 8:37 am
    There are tens of thousands of Claritans that aren’t qualified for much more than this sort of job: they’re called teenagers. (And many of them could do with a fry cook job; have you seen teenage employment stats lately??) Further, I don’t see how having a Fatburger precludes “the jobs we are looking for” from coming to Santa Clarita. That said, I completely agree that it’s ridiculous for the City work as Fatburger’s HR Dep’t–well put.
  2. CCSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:42 am
    waaaaaah? Have a SCV teen in the work force? Surely you jest sir!
  3. NateSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:01 am
    “new location expected to open on The Old Road.” Otherside of the 5… outside the enterprise zone… no qualify Give me donuts or hamburgers.
  4. CastaicClaySeptember 15, 2011 at 9:03 am
    Jinx?
  5. CCSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:44 am
    I was thinking the same thing. Why is the City helping to find jobs outside of the City?
  6. CastaicClaySeptember 15, 2011 at 9:01 am
    Is any part of The Old Road in the City of SC?
  7. LarMccSeptember 15, 2011 at 11:15 am
    Ed Davis Park on the Old Road is in city limits. It’s a little chunk of land, but I doubt they are going to put a Fatburger here.
  8. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:08 pm
    Ed Davis Park is a fine piece of SCV-boundary trivia. I was waiting to see who would get that.
  9. Phil EllisSeptember 15, 2011 at 12:55 pm
    Isn’t Sunset Point in the City?
  10. Timothy Myers SRSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:18 pm
    Nope. They have been trying to annex for years.
  11. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 1:19 pm
    No. Some residents made a push in 2007 or so. I’m not sure exactly what became of it, but they are still under the Lord Antonovich.
  12. uktolaSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:06 am
    The Old Road is outside of city limits. So why is the city helping Fatburger hire for that location?
  13. ToddSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:14 am
    Not that I don’t disagree with the sentiment that the “city” shouldn’t be doing the work of private industry, but I believe that this program is funded by the State and/or County, and not by the city’s general fund. In fact, their offices aren’t even in city offices, they’re over at the monolith, aka the University Center at COC.
  14. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 9:29 am
    A lot of the things under the sphere of economic development (including tourism, maybe even film) receive funding from other sources and/or aim to drive things that benefit the city, so their sphere includes the greater SCV. But as far as I can tell, there is no Enterprise Zone outside of city limits.
  15. Formula400September 15, 2011 at 10:40 am
    Maybe it will keep a teen from doing heroin or being bit by a rabid bat
  16. JoshSeptember 15, 2011 at 12:11 pm
    To clarify a few things: 1. The Santa Clarita WorkSouce Center, while overseen by the great folks at the City of Santa Clarita, is funded by Federal Workforce Investment Act dollars and services the workforce needs of the entire Santa Clarita Valley. And, though you may disagree, the WorkSource Center is non-discriminatory when it comes to level of employment being offered by companies using its services. Even Jeff could hire an assistant through the Center. 2. The expansion to the Santa Clarita Valley Enterprise Zone has been conditionally approved and would include most commercially-zoned areas in the unincorporated parts of the Santa Clarita Valley. I expect it to be fully approved very soon. 3. You mentioned Spectra Labs, but you must be thinking of Specialty Laboratories (now Quest Diagnostics) rather than Spectrolabs, the Boeing subsidiary. While we are home to the former, the latter is located in Sylmar (though it was started by biotech billionaire Al Mann who has other firms here). My two cents.
  17. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 12:16 pm
    Josh, thanks for some clarification. This is still funny, though. Right? http://scvtalk.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/SCV_McJob_Cat.png
  18. JayceSeptember 15, 2011 at 2:21 pm
    You win the internets today Mike.
  19. LarMccSeptember 15, 2011 at 4:05 pm
    I think fatburger wins in a competition between 5 guys, in n out and any of the other fast food joints in this valley. It will be good to have them back.
  20. MikeSeptember 15, 2011 at 4:09 pm
    Often done in by stale buns, but when it’s good, it’s great.

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