Michigan Chefs Want to Put Food on Your Plate. The Government Is Getting in the Way

‘I would be moving a lot quicker.”

That’s how entrepreneur Stephanie Rucker believes she could be running her business without the regulatory labyrinth she currently has to navigate. Rucker is sole proprietor of Tweety’s, a catering company based in Grand Rapids, Mich., that specializes in vegan soul food. It’s an unusual combination, she admits. But she has deeply personal reasons for choosing it. Health issues inspired her to eat vegan; her soul food company needed to shift as well. “I just made a mission to try to figure out how to make the best plant-based soul food that you can,” she told me.

You may or may not find the idea of vegan shrimp or ribs exciting. Yet these are the kinds of wild ideas that complex regulations for business owners in Michigan — and elsewhere — threaten to smother. Rucker is far from the only food entrepreneur in the state facing such impediments. Many others are frustrated by overcomplicated restrictions and the sheer number of rulemaking agencies overseeing their various food businesses. Although Michigan has processes under cottage law for small businesses to get licensed, if they want to scale their business, they hit several roadblocks.

Michigan has the ingredients for successful business: passionate entrepreneurs with unique ideas and a strong network of nonprofit business incubators. Food is a vital area for entrepreneurs because it is “often an entry level point for someone who wants to start a business,” according to Arlene Campbell, director of programs and operations at SpringGR, a nonprofit founded in Michigan to help people launch food businesses.

Many people, including in Michigan, have a favorite recipe that they would like to share. But obstructive rules can block that easy entry point. Rucker has momentum in her catering business. But she says licensing is a burden. She is already licensed to operate a catering business. But if she wants to cater an event at a specific location and assemble ingredients on-site, she needs to pay for a temporary license on top of her existing license — even if she just wants to “butter a piece of toast or . . . just add a topping.” The added expense has real-world consequences in hampering the scaling of her business.

She has, moreover, faced significant bureaucratic obstacles in attempting to expand to other outlets. For instance, her catering license doesn’t allow her to package her food to sell it. That activity falls under a completely different regulating agency and needs a separate license.

Rucker’s frustration is understandable. According to Michigan State University’s Product Center, food and beverage products in Michigan are regulated by six different agencies, including “Local Health Departments, the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD), the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), local zoning regulations, and the Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy (EGLE).” The dizzying array of dictates outstrips the basic safety requirements of products and inhibits food start-ups.

In fact, “understanding licensing and all that entails” is one of the biggest barriers to starting a food start-up in Michigan, Campbell, of SpringGR, says. SpringGR has a commercial kitchen where entrepreneurs can begin production. It also has a former health department employee on staff to assist clients with paperwork. These programs work within the system to get businesses licensed. But they don’t overcome the problem of scaling the business or shifting from catering to selling in stores.

Campbell tells me that commonsense rules to give start-ups a fighting chance would involve “a lot less paperwork.” She also highlighted the need for a standardized process for filing Standard Operating Procedure Documents. These are documents that outline a business’s production process step-by-step, and that have to be filed with the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Development before a licensed business can prepare food for sale. Currently, the guidelines for what gets approved and what does not is vague, she says.

Limiting regulations only to those that are strictly necessary for health and safety would create an explosion of new ideas and thriving businesses in Michigan. Shrinking the regulatory labyrinth would provide lower prices and better choices for consumers, and more quickly — not to mention fuller stomachs.