Denny’s employees who left Orange County when the company relocated to Spartanburg, S.C., find themselves enjoying a lower cost of living and slower pace in what has turned out to be. . . : The Right Move
One afternoon nearly two years ago, Gene Harris came home from work to a crowded, yet costly house he rented in Cypress and told his wife, Anne, some incredible news: His employer, Denny’s, was closing its headquarters in Irvine and moving to South Carolina.
If they moved along with the company, they could afford to buy their first house, he enthused, maybe even one with some land. They could get a puppy--a big, active, German shepherd like they had always wanted. It was a dream come true.
But Anne Harris didn’t exactly see it that way at the time. “I’m not going anywhere,” she said flatly.
Spartanburg, S.C.? What kind of a place is that? A continent away from her parents, her brother and two sisters, her nephews. They probably don’t even have chili rellenos there, she thought. They likely have funny accents and peculiar Southern expressions like “y’all.”
“I thought we were going to ‘Mayberry RFD.’ The middle of nowhere,” said Anne Harris, 38, who had lived in Cypress since her family moved there from New Jersey when she was 12.
But she agreed to visit once. Today, she loves it.
Like about 40 other Denny’s employees, the Harrises and their two daughters--14-year-old Shawna and 7-year-old Mandy--left the traffic, smog and high-priced real estate of Orange County for lower costs and a slower pace. They traded scrumptious Mexican food for Southern home cooking, Disneyland for days of boating on area lakes, the Pacific Ocean for the Blue Ridge Mountains. One Denny’s employee even found a wife.
“It’s actually been pretty easy,” Anne Harris said, smiling as she talked recently about her family’s experiences in this northwestern South Carolina city of 43,000 people. “They talk about Southern hospitality and that’s all true.”
About 400 employees in Irvine were offered transfers when officials decided to move the company to South Carolina to join other TW Services Inc. subsidiaries at the corporate headquarters. About 100 employees remained at the Irvine location, which is now a regional office.
Karen Randall, director of public relations for TW Services, said the company discovered many of the California workers did not want to leave their families or had a spouse working elsewhere in the region.
“And some of the people just loved California and didn’t want to leave,” Randall said.
Bernard Scott, Denny’s chief operating officer, said the Spartanburg move had very little to do with saving money and everything to do with streamlining operations.
“We can make decisions quicker, make better decisions,” said Scott, who relocated from Yorba Linda. “On any item, we can get legal, public relations, support staff, vice president of operations and pull those folks together in a minute’s notice.”
TW Services--the nation’s fourth largest food services company, with 1991 revenue of $3.6 billion--has five offices in Spartanburg. They include the company’s headquarters--a new 19-story, $26-million building in the downtown area. Two other TW companies--Quincy’s Family Steakhouses and Hardee’s--were already in Spartanburg, and Canteen, a contract food company, relocated from Chicago at the same time Denny’s moved from Orange County. El Pollo Loco, with most of its 200 restaurants on the West Coast, will remain in Irvine, company officials said.
Cost savings may not have been a determining factor for the company, but it has been for the employees. Not surprising, of course, is Spartanburg’s lower cost of living. According to the American Chamber Research Assn., Spartanburg prices stood at 94% of the national average last year for groceries, housing, utilities, transportation and health care. In comparison, the Anaheim-Santa Ana area had a 126% price rating. The only item more expensive in Spartanburg was utilities, reflecting the area’s cold winters and extremely hot and humid summers.
In Spartanburg--located in the forested Piedmont region about halfway between Charlotte, N.C., and Atlanta--an 1,800-square-foot house with three bedrooms and two baths like the one the Harrises bought costs slightly more than $100,000. And that is with an acre of land.
The Harrises’ house payment is about the same as the $1,000 rent they paid in California, where, Anne Harris said, “if you sneezed in the bathroom, our neighbor said, ‘Bless you.’ ”
Jennifer Cowan, an Anaheim native, bought a 3,500-square-foot house on an acre of land in an upscale Spartanburg subdivision with the money she and her husband, Mark, made selling their 1,400-square-foot Yorba Linda zero lot-line home, which had a modest amount of back and side yard.
She said the builder was amused when she expressed surprise on learning what was included in the $268,000 purchase price.
“I’d say: ‘It comes with carpet? Wood floors? Landscaped? You’re kidding!’ ” said Cowan, Denny’s manager of product development. “We’re having fun redecorating, buying new furniture and moving the old furniture around to fill the empty rooms.”
The Southern California transplants said the travel time to and from work has been the most welcome change in their lives. Gene Harris, whose former 15-mile commute into the Irvine office took about 50 minutes each way, now spends 11 minutes driving to work. And that’s only if he has to stop at the single stoplight on the way.
Clay Erps, who trains restaurant workers to use computers, has had perhaps the most life-changing experience. In late October, at the First Baptist Church, he married 26-year-old Judy Jennings, a Southern belle who works as a secretary for Denny’s chief financial officer.
A Ventura native, Erps said he was thrilled when he heard the offer to move, mainly because he knew his income would stretch further. He bought a house in the same neighborhood as the Harrises.
Many of the transplants have pursued new off-duty interests. Pat McMullan, who works in purchasing, now has time to tutor students at the local library. The Cowans spend weekends on their 18-foot ski boat--another recent purchase--playing on one of the five reservoirs within a 30-minute drive.
They also spend Friday nights cheering on the football team at Dorman High School, which their 12-year-old daughter Danielle, now a seventh-grader, will one day attend.
“We don’t know anybody who goes there,” Cowan said, laughing, “but that’s something everyone does.”
For better or worse, the nation’s image of the South has long been one of Scarlett O’Hara or Boss Hogg, a place steeped in tradition, a land of genteel plantation homes alongside insidious poverty. It has retained its identity even as other areas have lost theirs.
Many newcomers wonder whether they would fit in at a place where the first question asked is usually, “Where do you go to church?” But the Denny’s transplants all say they have felt included and welcome.
“The pastor of the local church did come knocking on the first day we moved in,” Anne Harris said. “It wasn’t that way in California but we adjusted right away. And people have treated us like royalty.”
The state’s education system, criticized as among the worst in the nation, has not been a concern to the newcomers. Spartanburg County’s seven school districts rank highest in the state and the Denny’s employees say their children receive more individual attention because of smaller class sizes.
The grading system is more stringent, as well, they said. In Spartanburg, a student merits an A only if he earns better than a 94 average and an 86 will only earn a C.
But there are drawbacks. Disney World is a full day’s drive and two states away. Atlanta, with its big-city night life and Braves, Falcons and Hawks sporting events, is nearly three hours away. There’s no Sea World, and the Atlantic Ocean is 250 miles away. There’s no San Diego Zoo, nothing even close.
And one of the area’s more notable failings, to many of the transferred Denny’s workers, is that the Mexican food is just not up to Southern California standards.
“My wife ordered a chili relleno in one of the most-recommended Mexican restaurants and it had meat in it!” Gene Harris said in an incredulous voice.
Added his wife: “Every time someone makes a business trip back to California, they ask: ‘You need beans?’ Rosarita vegetarian refried beans--they don’t sell them at the Piggly Wiggly. “And it’s Christmastime, so I really miss See’s candies,” she said. “A real bummer.”
The Harrises--whose daughters now have Southern accents--say moving to Spartanburg has been good for the family. They got their house, their land and even their German shepherd. He is named Franco after Franco Harris, a former member of the Harrises’ favorite team--the Pittsburgh Steelers. And Anne Harris hopes her parents will visit soon.
“It’s the kind of life I’ve always wanted to live,” Gene Harris said. “I dreamed of a little bit of land, trees, grass, the change of seasons and then I’d say: ‘Yeah, right, you live in Southern California.’ ”
Southern Affordability
Denny’s Inc. employees who relocated to Spartanburg, S.C., are finding their dollar buys more. Here’s a cost-of-living comparison between Spartanburg and Southern California; prices are averages:
Orange, Spartanburg Los Angeles counties House* $91,075 $213,230 Apartment* 430/mo. 790/mo. Man’s haircut 9.10 10.20 First-run movie 5.40 7.10 Self-serve unleaded gas .98/gal. 1.09/ga. Routine doctor visit 34.60 47.00 Six-pack of beer 3.63 3.99
*New 1,800 square-feet on an 8,000 square-foot lot in an urban area.
**Unfurnished, two bedroom, 1-2 baths, 950 square feet.
Spartanburg County
Population; 226,800
Unemployment rate: 5.0%
Median household income: $26,941
Largest employers: Adidas USA, Michelin Tire, Spartan Mills, University of South Carolina/Spartanburg, TW Services
Median work commute: 18 minutes
Orange County
Population; 2,410,556
Unemployment rate: 6/6%
Median household income: $45,922
Largest employers: Marine Corps, Hughes Aircraft Co., Rockwell International, Disneyland, Restaurant Enterprise Group Inc., Parker Bertea Aerospace, Pacific Bell, Alpha Beta, Beckman Instruments
Median work commute: 25 minutes
Source: 1990 U.S. Census; American Chamber of Commerce Research Assn., Spartanburg Area Camber of Commerce, Orange County Chamber of Commerce. Researched by JANICE L. JONES and DALLAS M. JACKSON / Los Angeles Times
