> Government regulations crush small business growth and contributes to the decline of our nation’s economy. <
Two young black guys opened a deli about a mile from where I live. I stopped in soon after it opened. There was a nice menu and many tables, but no chairs.
I asked one of the owners why there weren’t any chairs. After all, who wants to eat standing up? The owner said it was a government regulation. He could only put in chairs if he first installed a handicapped bathroom, something he couldn’t afford. So no chairs.
And also no business. The place closed about six weeks after that.
Oh, and is important to mention that the owners were two black guys? Yes. They tried to do the right thing, open a small business to support their families. And the government destroyed their dreams, for no good reason.
I believe Starbucks has built its entire business model on working around local health and zoning codes. Their on-site food preparation processes don’t require ovens or grills, so they are generally classified as a “food retailer” and not a “restaurant” under municipal codes.
Heard a story one time about a Jewish drug store owner in the Deep South. When the civil rights movement started, he desegregated his lunch counter. The Chief of Police came around in person, to insist the owner comply with the ordinance requiring segregated seating at the lunch counter. The owner removed all of stools at the lunch counter, which put him in compliance, because there was no municipal ordinance requiring segregated standing areas.
The relator of the story, the owner’s son, said that removing the stools settled the issue both legally, and practically. His white patrons had no expectation of segregated standing areas, and they stood and ate next to blacks in equanimity.