In-N-Out Burger in San Francisco refuses to ‘become the vaccination police’

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The popular California burger chain In-N-Out refuses to comply with San Francisco’s mandate that restaurants review vaccine cards before allowing customers to dine inside, a move that resulted in the temporary closure. from the only location in town.

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“We refuse to become the vaccination police of any government,” Arnie Wensinger, the company’s chief legal and commercial officer, said in a statement shared with The Washington Post.

“It is unreasonable, invasive and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who can be served and those who cannot, either because of the documentation they carry or for any other reason.”

The shock comes as the country remains divided over pandemic policies, with vaccination mandates in the public and private sectors leading to riots and layoffs. San Francisco, like New York City, requires patrons to be vaccinated before dining in, and restaurants are responsible for registering cards at the door.

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San Francisco health officials have had to remind employees at the In-N-Out location to check vaccine cards multiple times since late September, a spokesman for the San Francisco Department of Public Health said in a statement. to The Post.

Despite the warnings, the employees did not comply, forcing the city health department to close the restaurant on Oct. 14, the only time the agency ordered the closure for a vaccine card violation, wrote the spokesperson for the health department. The fast-food restaurant, located in San Francisco’s touristy Fisherman’s Wharf, has since reopened, albeit without the option to eat inside, the health department said.

“Vaccines remain our best tool to combat this disease and emerge from the pandemic,” the health department spokesman wrote. “Vaccination is particularly important in an indoor public setting where groups of people gather and remove masks, factors that facilitate the spread of the virus.”

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But Wensinger says San Francisco is overdoing it. The burger chain, he said, believes in the “highest form of customer service” and that means allowing customers to eat inside regardless of their vaccination status.

“We totally disagree with any government ruling that forces a private company to discriminate against customers who choose to sponsor its business,” Wensinger said. “This is a clear government overreach and it is intrusive, inappropriate and offensive.”

Resistance to vaccine mandates has manifested itself in school districts, sports leagues, police departments, airlines, and hospitals. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court refused to stop enforcement of the vaccines mandate for Maine healthcare workers after similarly rejecting such requests from Indiana University students and New York City educators.

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On Monday, Washington State University fired its soccer coach, the highest-paid employee in the state, after he refused to comply with the governor’s order that all state employees must be vaccinated.

In-N-Out has about 370 locations, all of them in states west of the Mississippi River. The hamburger chain’s fans and mystique have sparked 14-hour queues, as well as copycats in Australia and Washington.

In 2018, California Democrats briefly called for a boycott of the hamburger chain because the company donated $ 30,000 to the state’s Republican Party, though the move quickly failed.