Too often, government bureaucrats are terrified of anything that does not fit neatly into their lists. They treat an innovative business idea as a nuisance or—worse—a threat.

Case in point: During the past few years, several Chicago entrepreneurs noticed that some folks who prepared food for a living needed to use a commercial kitchen but could not afford a kitchen of their own. These creative entrepreneurs came up with a solution. They built big, shiny commercial kitchens with room for several enterprises to work at once. They followed all the legal requirements for construction and sanitation and passed inspections with flying colors. Then they rented out space in the kitchens by the hour.

Chicago Tribune video of health inspectors destroying the property of IJ Clinic client Flora Lazar.
The owners of the community kitchens profited by providing a needed resource. Small businesses grew without the risk of illegally selling food they cooked at home. The whole city enjoyed the benefits of new businesses starting up: new jobs, new wealth and new, yummy food products.

But not so fast.

When Flora Lazar—an IJ Clinic client who owns “Flora Confections”—and others applied for a license to run a food service business out of Kitchen Chicago, a rental kitchen, a city representative said he could not give more than one license to operate at one address. Unwilling to believe that the city would outlaw their meticulously run businesses simply because they shared a mailing address, the kitchen owners and renters proceeded to make their meals

Read more at the Institute of Justice

image candied citrus peels from Flora’s Confections