California Legalized Selling Food Made At Home And Created Over A Thousand Local Businesses

Forbes ^ | January 29, 2014 | Nick Sibilla

[2ndDivisionVet]

A government official appears at a man’s door. The man has been breaking the law: He has sold bread baked at home.

This isn’t a page from Kafka—it happened to Mark Stambler in Los Angeles.

For decades, Stambler has followed traditional methods to bake loaves of French bread. The ingredients are simple: distilled water, sea salt, wild yeast and organic grains. Stambler even mills the grain himself. To make it easier to steam loaves, he built a wood-fired oven in his own backyard. Stambler’s loaves came in first place at the Los Angeles County Fair and the California State Fair.

Soon after that, Stambler got the idea to expand his hobby into a home business, which became Pagnol Boulanger. Word of mouth spread. In June 2011, The Los Angeles Times profiled Stambler and his bread in a full-page feature.

Unlike his bread, that profile was bittersweet. He was busted the very next day. As he described it, the health department “descended like a ton of bricks on the two stores that were selling my bread…they could no longer sell my bread.”

An inspector from the health department even showed up at his doorstep to make sure “no bread baking was taking place.” For the next 18 months, Pagnol Boulanger was forced to go on hiatus....

[Jack Hydrazine]

So what is the reason for the sales caps??? Have any good reason to justify that?

[Secret Agent Man]

;)

[Sherman Logan]

As I said, I don’t claim that any and all food safety regulations make sense. Only that food preparation and sale is not a particularly good venue for a completely free market.

[Sivad]

Sounds good on the surface but I suspect it is
to please the illegal alien faction.

[Jack Hydrazine]

Keeping the rules minimal, un-intrusive, and common sense is the best way to go.

[Talisker]

Freepers should pass the word that in California, vets pay no health fees, per State law.

[P-Marlowe]

Maybe Chloe Sirling can convince the Illinois legislature to allow her to bake cupcakes at home.

If she lived in California (of all places) she would have the LIBERTY to bake cupcakes at home without the Illinois Food Nazis shutting her down.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I haven’t paid dime number one for anything medical since I went over 50% service-connected disabled and that is in all 57 states.

[2ndDivisionVet]

Exactly. We pass a Latino man selling fruit and vegetables from his truck on a vacant lot nearly every day and I remarked to my wife “if I tried that they’d shut me down in 20 minutes” and you know it’s true.

[P-Marlowe]

Sounds good on the surface but I suspect it is to please the illegal alien faction.

So you'd be willing to surrender precious liberty to punish some illegal aliens?

[sockmonkey]

Here’s a partial list of food poisoning outbreaks in the US since the 70s.

I didnt see any bread on that list.

[Sivad]

Let me turn it it around. Why do people like you have to
assume such ridiculous notions? I’m saying the liberals
who call the shots don’t care two dead flies about capitalism.
If it wasn’t for the fact that tons of their illegal pals were
engaged in such enterprises they would be against these
home kitchen businesses.

[Veto!]

Thanks for posting. I’ll check our state laws. My daughter’s incredible cherry chutney has a definite market, if she chooses to sell it.

A woman in CA started selling her sweet/spicy “Mendocino Mustard” to friends and it turned into a significant business. Delish, and profitable too. And, come to think of it, I maKe a spice blend that turns burgers into International delights. Everyone asks for the recipe…perhaps they will PAY.

Let’s all make a little income on the side and donate a significant percent to FREE REPUBLIC.

[2ndDivisionVet]

I'll look for you and her on Shark Tank.

[Veto!]

LOL. I wouldn’t trust those sharks. We’ll start small, work out the problems, and make enough, a little family business, who needs the aggravation of BIGTIME?

Reminds me of a fellow who self-published a book that caught on, he had so many orders, his entire family had to quit their jobs and become the shipping department. Finally he sold rights to a major publishing house, who sold millions of copies, and the family got back to normal. A new, wealthy normal.

I’m sorta surprised that this thread didn’t get more capitalist-leaning answers. Lots of complaints, few ideas about how to make it work. Hmmmm.

[who_would_fardels_bear]

A while back a lot of people were being seriously sickened by Mexican cheese made in bathtubs.

In some cases the bathtubs were being used as bathtubs and for cheesemaking as well. Some people claimed that that is what gave the cheese its special flavor.

[i_robot73]

Bingo.

If he were smart he’d have ‘bartered’, or ‘suggested donation’. Use the stupid law to its extreme and shut down the nanny State at every turn possible.

[P-Marlowe]

Would you have voted against this law?

[P-Marlowe]

Isn’t it interesting that almost all of those illnesses were from eating industrially processed food and virtually none of them were from home baked breads, pastries, cookies, donuts, cupcakes....

[Sivad]

Overall, I would support any law that advances capitalism but
I would surely be ready to distinguish the difference between
my love for capitalism and freedom with another’s political posturing.
You don’t think those Democrats use this to demonstrate their
love for capitalism while they work to legislate businesses out
of business?