‘I’m So Scarred’

The owner of a bakery explains the permitting process she had to survive in order to get her business open.

Good Morning!

Here are today’s highlights:            

• Lou Mosca tells business owners to focus on the things they can control—and then control them.

• How can a business that isn’t growing find opportunities for its employees?

• For many struggling businesses, the interest rate cut brings a glimmer of hope.

• The Chicago White Sox are demonstrating what can happen when a business owner stays too long.

REGULATION

Here’s what it took for one entrepreneur to navigate the bureaucracy and open a bakery in San Francisco: “How much does it cost to build a wheelchair-accessible ramp in San Francisco? Well, it depends how many times you have to build it. For Sophie Smith, owner of the North Beach bakery Butter and Crumble, the total cost ended up being around $30,000. That’s because she had to redesign the ramp four times and completely rebuild it once. It was just one of many expensive and frustrating delays Smith dealt with in trying to get her business permits — delays she attributes to conflicting information she received from different city departments. After a permit expediter agreed to help her out pro bono, Smith was finally able to open her bakery last October, a month later than she'd hoped.”

• “Smith’s is just one story among many in a city where opening a restaurant can require approval from 11 different agencies, according to a 2022 report by the Institute for Justice. Katy Tang, director of San Francisco’s Office of Small Business, said each case is unique, but conceded that the researchers' figure ‘could be correct.’”

• “Restaurants, with a whopping 61 steps in the permitting process, are especially in need of assistance, according to the Institute for Justice report. But they’re not the only ones. Barber shops must tangle with nine agencies. Even opening a food truck is no picnic: It requires approval from seven. Bookstores can expect to paper up with five agencies and go through more than 30 steps. And all this costs money.”

• “Butter & Crumble is doing well — the bakery’s neon ‘sold out’ sign lights up every afternoon — and Smith’s friends have started to ask her whether she’ll open a second location. The answer: not anytime soon. ‘I’m so scarred. I need at least a few years to recover,’ Smith said. ‘Hopefully by the time we get to it, there will be a lot of reform to make it easier.’” READ MORE