The sweet success of less regulation

Published 8:44 pm Sunday, September 28, 2014

Sometimes, the right response is “let them eat cake” — or rather, “let them bake cake.” A recent Texas law that lifts regulations on home bakeries has allowed a whole new industry to flourish, providing jobs and opportunities for many Texans.

“Texas is enjoying a burst of entrepreneurship after enacting laws that let anyone turn a home kitchen into a business incubator,” reports Forbes magazine. “Under ‘cottage food’ laws, people can sell food baked or cooked at home, like cookies, cakes and jams, if it’s deemed to have a very low chance of causing foodborne illnesses. Crucially, cottage food laws exempt home bakers from having to rent commercial kitchen space.”

The magazine points to baker Amy Padilla, who won “Austin’s Best Chocolate Cupcake” in the capital’s “Cupcake Smackdown.”

Encouraged by the win, she wanted to open her own business. But she found that under Texas laws, she would have to buy or build or rent time in a commercial bakery.

But she and others learned that other states had enacted “cottage food” laws, and they began lobbying the Legislature. A law passed in 2011.

“Under the new cottage food law, Padilla reopened Bellissimo Bakery, so she could carry on customizing children’s birthday cakes and selling her cupcakes, in flavors like Kona Kahlua or Death by Chocolate,” Forbes reports. “Since 2011, her sales have increased by 25 percent every year, and she’s predicting an increase of up to 50 percent this year.”

How many such bakeries have opened in Texas? It’s impossible to know, for exactly the right reason — it’s unregulated and unfettered by state rules. There are no bureaucrats stomping around those home kitchens. Oh, bakers still have to take a food safety class, but that can be done online for as little as $8.

The Texas Legislature has expanded this law.

“Under the first cottage food law passed back in 2011, Texans were limited to selling only baked goods, jams, jellies and dried herbs,” Forbes adds. “But the state’s second cottage food law, enacted September 1, 2013, redefined ‘cottage food’ to make it more encompassing. Now Texans can legally create and sell candy, coated and uncoated nuts, fruit butters, cereal, dried fruits and vegetables, vinegar, pickles, mustard, roasted coffee and popcorn out of their homes. Moreover, HB 970 allows modern-day homesteaders to sell their treats at more locations, including at farmers’ markets, roadside stands and events like county fairs.”

The 2013 law also closed a loophole that allowed cities to crack down on such home businesses by using zoning regulations.

The cottage food industry is a great example that shows how government can best “create” jobs — by getting out of the way and letting Americans do it themselves.

As Judith McGeary, Executive Director of the Farm and Ranch Freedom Alliance, one of the people who helped advance the cottage food movement says, “Whether people are passionate about personal liberty, the environment, human health, local economic development or any one of a dozen other important issues, they can find benefits in the local food movement.”