Pot and Food: How Prop 19 Could Affect the Restaurant Business

N. Galuten

A marijuana dispensary in a former Kentucky Fried Chicken

(This article was originally published on Monday, November 1st, at 1 p.m.)

Tomorrow the people of California will step into voting booths and decide whether or not to legalize marijuana in our state. The issues, as with all government legislation, are complex. Yet while Dennis Romero over at The Informer has been covering the political side, we at Squid Ink are taking a look at how Prop 19 could affect L.A.'s restaurant business. We asked chefs, restaurant managers, and food writers to get their take on the topic. And while some declined to speak on the record, others were happy to oblige.

"Well if it makes people hungry, then it's got to be good for business, right?" said Foundry chef-owner Eric Greenspan, who is coincidentally opening a "grilled cheesery". This was a common thread in the discussions: pot smokers get the munchies.

"I think there's gonna be more Del Tacos, and I don't want to see any more Del Tacos," said Thrillist LA editor Jeff Miller.

But Los Angeles has long been a pot-friendly city. Will things actually be any different if the proposition passes? "People have been showing up high to restaurants for a long time," said Greenspan.

"I don't think it's as much as people are freaking out about," said LA Magazine dine editor Lesley Bargar Suter. "The people who smoke pot every day already smoke pot every day." Yet while all of the No on 19 fears may not come to fruition, increased availability does lend itself to an increase in consumption.

"Everybody loves pot," said Suter, "but I hate stoned people. I'm mostly worried about this, because I don't want to deal with stoned people all day." She went on to muse, "If [customers] are going to be saying, 'I can't decide,' and ordering the whole menu, will [restaurants] have to hire more staffers?"

Animal chef Jon Shook has a different take. "I don't think it would affect or change anything, other than that it would help farmers make more money on their land. I think if anything it would help the farmers." Animal, the highly-praised restaurant known for its confident use of animal parts, fat, and acid, often gets labeled as the holy grail of "upscale stoner food." But in reality, that title does a bit of disservice to the work they put in.

"Animal has been characterized, because of the style of food, [as] something drummed up from being stoned. But it isn't," said Shook. "I hope people don't look at Animal and say, 'there's a bunch of potheads over there.'"