Kaylee Poche's recent cover article for Gambit details many of the unnecessary municipal roadblocks on the path to opening a pop-up food business here in New Orleans. But even a "regular" business like ours, one that is relatively easy to categorize, faced many of the same bureaucratic challenges to opening.
Her interviews with other local chefs and entrepreneurs had us nodding our heads in sad recognition of City Hall and its myriad contradictions. From employees who give paradoxical instructions to phone numbers that apparently ring to nowhere, it often feels like we've experienced enough red tape for a lifetime. A few individuals within City Hall certainly came through for us on occasion, and it is heartening to learn that the office of City Council President Helena Moreno is actively working to improve the permitting process, but it remains difficult to believe in any actual systemic streamlining.
Read on here for a glimpse of our experience, and that of so many others.