Is Detroit Freer than Chicago? (VIDEO)

Governments bully small businesses on a regular basis with overwhelming regulation.  Innovators who don’t fit the mold of similar businesses often have terrible stories to tell of red tape, resistance and regulatory runarounds.  Far too often, the story ends with a business crushed by unreasonable requirements that prevent innovation and growth in new industries.

Every now and then however, a story comes along where government stays out of the way and ordinary people can turn into successful business owners, adding valuable services to their communities.

In Detroit, there is surprising and encouraging growth in its food services industry.  Restaurants have a high entry cost.  Buying supplies, building out space, acquiring licenses and developing a successful product require a huge amount of resources that few people can provide.  Detroit entrepreneurs found a solution that lowers barriers to entry and provides a budding industry for a city in desperate need of economic growth.

Read More: Shining a Light on Government Bullies

Shared kitchens are a growing trend.  They rent out underused kitchen space, such as underused space in churches and community centers, and charge food entrepreneurs an hourly fee as low as $15 for them to start up their own food business.

Detroit Kitchen Connect helped out baker Chloe Sabatier.  Having access to a large, already commercially licensed kitchen allowed Sabatier to bake up to 200 cakes a week to sell at different markets and coffee shops. Her success is so outstanding that she will soon need to hire additional bakers to help her fulfill the demand for her cakes.

Shared kitchens allow food entrepreneurs to test out their products and develop a business without starting out in huge amounts of debt from startup costs.  And Detroit Kitchen Connect doesn’t just provide space for the chefs, it also aids them in the licensing and regulatory requirements they need to follow to expand their businesses.  It fosters innovation and allows creative entrepreneurship to flourish. April Anderson started cooking in a Detroit Kitchen Connect kitchen in January 2013 and six months later she opened her own store.

For now, Detroit regulators are staying out of the way.  The cooks can operate safely in a licensed shared kitchen and have access to resources to help them navigate the regulatory maze once they want to expand into their own space.  But food entrepreneurs have past experience with regulators that should keep them wary.

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