In-N-Out livid after city closes San Francisco restaurant over COVID vaccine rules

An order that temporarily shuttered San Francisco’s only In-N-Out location for failing to comply with COVID-19 vaccine rules has the national burger chain raging.

“We refuse to become the vaccination police for any government,” Arnie Wensinger, the chain’s chief legal and business officer, said in a statement to The San Francisco Chronicle.

“It is unreasonable, invasive, and unsafe to force our restaurant associates to segregate customers into those who may be served and those who may not, whether based on the documentation they carry, or any other reason, “ Wensinger said.

The restaurant on Fisherman’s Wharf has since reopened but without indoor dining, KTVU reported.

City health officials had ordered it closed on Oct. 14 for not preventing customers without proof of COVID-19 vaccination from entering the restaurant, KPIX reported.

Wensinger told KRON the burger chain had posted information about the city’s rules but refused to “discriminate against customers.”

The city Department of Public Health said it gave the restaurant repeated warnings for violating the city’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate following two inspections, The San Francisco Chronicle reported.

San Francisco began requiring restaurants that provide indoor dining to check the COVID-19 vaccine status of customers in August, KRON reported.

In-N-Out has 328 restaurants in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon, Texas and Utah.

More than 241 million cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed worldwide with more than 4.9 million deaths as of Oct. 20, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has had more than 45 million confirmed cases with more than 728,000 deaths.

This story was originally published October 20, 2021 at 9:00 AM with the headline "In-N-Out livid after city closes San Francisco restaurant over COVID vaccine rules."