The rent is too damn high.
Via KTVU:
The parent company of Bay Area-based Jamba Juice is picking up and leaving the Bay Area in order to relocate its corporate headquarters to suburban Dallas, the company has said.
The retailer, which has 885 corporate- and franchise-owned juice stores, has joined several other corporations to pick up and leave the Golden State for the Lone Star State.
“With the pending expiration of our lease in Emeryville at the end of 2016, we explored a number of location options that would offer us competitive operating costs, a region with extensive access to skilled restaurant talent, an attractive cost of living to our current and future team members, and a geographical location that facilitates our ability to expand our store base,” David A. Pace, CEO of Jamba said in a statement published in the Dallas Morning News. “The State of Texas meets all of these criteria and Frisco is a community committed to healthy living that aligns closely with our overall mission.”
Frisco is a booming suburb north some 25 miles north of Dallas and located in Collin County. The North Texas area already boasts corporate headquarters for such corporate giants as J.C. Penney, American Airlines and Southwest Airlines. The area is also preparing to welcome the new North American headquarters of Toyota, which is leaving Southern California in order to relocate to the Dallas area.
The Morning News said the company received grants from the city and the state of Texas for their relocation. The newspaper said about 100 people would work at the new corporate office although it was not immediately clear if the company would move its current workers or look to hire new ones. It was also not immediately clear if the company would retain any of its corporate functions in its Emeryville office.
Jamba Juice is expected to occupy 19,000 square feet of office and meeting space and a 6,000-square-foot test kitchen and storefront, according to the published report.
The move is another milestone in other states’ efforts to lure California companies.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott was in town earlier this week to lure corporate relocations to the Sunshine State. He was, touting his state’s low cost of living and the absence of a state income tax as part of his argument to California’s CEOs.