Illinois officials have ordered an eleven-year-old to close her cupcake business that was earning her $200 a month.
We’re here to help you: Illinois officials have ordered an eleven-year-old to close her cupcake business that was earning her $200 a month.
“They called and said they were shutting us down,” said Chloe’s mother, Heather Stirling.
According to the Post-Dispatch, health officials informed the Stirlings that they would have to “buy a bakery or build her a kitchen separate from the one we have” for Chloe to continue selling cupcakes. “Obviously, we can’t do that,” Heather said. “We’ve already given her a little refrigerator to keep her things in, and her grandparents bought her a stand mixer. But a separate kitchen? Who can do that?” Chloe was charging $10 for a dozen cupcakes and $2 specialty cupcakes. “I’m saving for a bakery,” Chloe said in the piece that got her into trouble.
“The rules are the rules. It’s for the protection of the public health,” said health department spokeswoman Amy Yeager. “The guidelines apply to everyone. People will react how they choose to react. But it is our job.”
If this doesn’t illustrate why the rules are a bad idea in the first place, I don’t know what will. A free society allows for this kind of creative innovation, and also allows the possibility that maybe all cupcakes won’t be perfect.
Sadly, we don’t live in that free society any longer.
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The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
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We’re here to help you: Illinois officials have ordered an eleven-year-old to close her cupcake business that was earning her $200 a month.
“They called and said they were shutting us down,” said Chloe’s mother, Heather Stirling.
According to the Post-Dispatch, health officials informed the Stirlings that they would have to “buy a bakery or build her a kitchen separate from the one we have” for Chloe to continue selling cupcakes. “Obviously, we can’t do that,” Heather said. “We’ve already given her a little refrigerator to keep her things in, and her grandparents bought her a stand mixer. But a separate kitchen? Who can do that?” Chloe was charging $10 for a dozen cupcakes and $2 specialty cupcakes. “I’m saving for a bakery,” Chloe said in the piece that got her into trouble.
“The rules are the rules. It’s for the protection of the public health,” said health department spokeswoman Amy Yeager. “The guidelines apply to everyone. People will react how they choose to react. But it is our job.”
If this doesn’t illustrate why the rules are a bad idea in the first place, I don’t know what will. A free society allows for this kind of creative innovation, and also allows the possibility that maybe all cupcakes won’t be perfect.
Sadly, we don’t live in that free society any longer.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
If the bureaucrats are going to act like robots then maybe those are the jobs that should get automated the soonest.
Who needs people if the “The rules are the rules.”
This is pretty common and many states have exceptions for craft producers or local farmers. In WA, the problem is that there is a revenue limit on who can get exemptions, not profit. IIRC, it is $10k or lower.It makes it hard to get a business up and running and meet stricter requirements as you grow without taking on massive debt for a business that may not be that profitable.
There are a couple things this girl could do. She could rent a commercial kitchen or see if one would let her use one for free. Many churches are required to have commercial kitchens but if they rent them out they can lose their nonprofit status. Building a commercial kitchen in your house can be rather expensive, maybe $100k. It isn’t just the cost of appliances but sinks, work surfaces, sanitation, and ease/access to clean ceilings and cupboards. An alternative is buying a food truck or trailer. They can be constructed to meet a variety of tasks and meet your local regulations. Also, very expensive for a high end truck, maybe $100k or more but you could possibly find a used one or have one built for about $20k.
It has been a while since I ran the numbers but I think $20k is what you could expect to spend for the bare minimum. It the grand scheme of things, that isn’t much for starting a business but it is also out of range for a lot of people, especially little girls. The girl could write a business plan and apply for a loan through the SBA.
Paula Dean got her start making dishes out of her home….Don’t give up, just do more research… Keep your Dream alive…
Aren’t we glad that Mrs. Fields didn’t run into such trouble? Or the innumerable companies that were started in garages?
Sadly, you are 100% right that we no longer live in a free society. We USED to, however that’s in our past. My youth was far different than what my 3 year old granddaughter will face. The United States of my past unfortunately, no longer exists. We are now a society that has been dumbed-down and softened which is no longer recognizable to me.
Wikipedia informs that Troy , IL is a town of only 10,000 souls, so commercial kitchens may be hard to come by. In Portland many food cart operators co-habit commercial kitchens with others to spread the cost, but this probably isn’t a viable option where this girl lives, unless her parents will drive her to St. Louis.
Many small farmers are slammed with these kind of “protecting the public” rules that are really just laws written to protect large businesses from any competition—even as small as a girl baking cupcakes. Just look at the raw milk farms that get raided for selling a healthy product to a public that is asking for it. Large dairy concerns don’t want anyone moving into their territory or revealing to the public that their products are junk.
The solution is simple: Donate a portion of the cupcake proceeds to the Democrat Party. Case closed.