Like Some Nutella with That Permit?

The late Nabisco CEO Robert Schaeberle once said, “If we could ever make red tape nutritional, we could feed the world.” After trying (and categorically failing) to open a crepe cart business in Boston last summer, I sympathize with him. Bureaucratic red tape can leave us all hungry.

Running a crepe company seemed pretty straightforward. With two friends, I would prepare the batter at my house each morning. The ingredients are cheap—mainly egg, flour, milk, and sugar. When ready, we would wheel a food cart out of my garage and take it to Boston Common, Copley Square, or another location in Boston. There we would make the crepes with an electric crepe-maker and serve them with an assortment of toppings: banana, sugar, Nutella, and more.

While production costs for crepes are low, fixed costs are a bit pricy. After purchasing a food cart (about $700), a crepe-maker (about $50), permits, and other expenses, we expected start-up costs to total around $1,000 to $1,200. Still, we remained undeterred. With one-for-$3 and two-for-$5 deals, variety in toppings, great taste, and super witty name—A la Cart—we expected to turn a profit within 45 days.

If only it were that easy.

After visiting Boston City Hall, Food Safety, and the Parks and Recreation Department, it became clear that our business plan had serious flaws. To begin, food vendors must be stationary in Boston. Companies are only given permits for a single location and are barred from moving sites. This restrictive statute turned out to be the least of our concerns as we settled on operating solely in Boston Common.

The plan really began to unravel at Food Safety. The inspector told me that crepes—along with pancakes and waffles—fall under the “Belgian-style eatery” category, which seems like a poor classification name for a French food. More importantly for us, it meant we fell under a host of regulations—all neatly outlined in a 30-page packet—including the requirement to have a sink onsite. This applied despite all our food preparation occurring offsite. I have never seen a crepe cart with a sink before, perhaps in part because sink-attached carts cost an egregious $2,500 or more.

To further complicate things, I was told that food must be prepared at an established restaurant or an approved kitchen—my house would never qualify according to the Food Safety inspector. While I understand the logic, this requirement basically prevents any individual food vendor from establishing a business. Food Safety also mandates carts be stored overnight in an approved facility—my garage also failed to pass muster. This rule appears redundant as carts already undergo routine inspections for cleanliness.

The number of permits, and the process of obtaining them, stunned me. To operate a crepe cart in Boston Common, you need permits from Boston Food Safety, Massachusetts Food Safety, Boston Parks and Recreation (which has jurisdiction over the Common), the Boys and Girls Club of Boston (which administers activity in the Common), the Boston Licensing Department, and Boston Public Works. There are probably more, but we never made it that far.

Beyond the cost of each permit (some ran into the hundreds of dollars) was the time the entire process would have taken. It’s sequential—you need a permit from one before you can begin the process for another. Food Safety permits predicate everything, which makes sense, but even the licensing process, for example, cannot begin before clearance from Public Works. It would have taken several months before we could make our first crepe. That’s ridiculous.

This problem is not contained to the Boston mobile food industry, of course. To open a new restaurant in New York, for example, requires some 30 permits from 11 different government bodies.

I believe in government regulation. We don’t want people recklessly selling food on the side of the road. It endangers our health and trust in the food industry. Government policy, however, should focus on lessening barriers to entry. We should be encouraging new companies to enter markets, not shutting them out. New companies create competition, jobs, and ultimately benefit the entire economy, but complex and burdensome permitting processes prevent many companies from ever getting off their feet. We need to decrease regulatory obstacles that discourage businesses from trying.

Reducing barriers to entry should include consolidation of permitting to fewer government bodies and reduction of needless regulation. Requiring companies to go through many agencies, as with the mobile food industry, drags out the process, creates large opportunity costs, and disincentives new firms. Decreasing permitting agencies helps entrepreneurs and reduces bureaucratic costs. Policy should also reduce unnecessary requirements like the need for a sink and for an approved cart storage location.

It’s time to improve the permitting process and start making crepes.

James F. Kelleher Jr. ’17 is a Crimson editorial writer in Wigglesworth Hall.