Hi there,
A couple weeks ago, I shared my
2022 cottage food recap, which showed why last year was a surprisingly great year for our industry.
But
not all of the surprises last year were good, and that's what this email is about. (Don't worry -- it has a happy ending!)
This week
we're talking about micro restaurants. Also known as MEHKOs -- microenterprise home kitchen operations.
The micro restaurant concept,
introduced by California in 2018, received a massive boost from the pandemic. As a result, 2021 was a big year for micro restaurants, with many CA counties opting into their law, and Utah passing an even better micro restaurant law.
So at the end of 2021,
I predicted that one or two additional states might pass a micro restaurant bill in 2022.
But I was wrong about that. Three states (
FL,
GA,
WA) did try to mimic California and Utah's laws, and
ultimately, all of those bills failed.
Last year, we learned that
the micro restaurant industry isn't going to get a pandemic fast-pass to mass adoption. But that doesn't mean it's a fad.
Quite the opposite, actually. Just as the cottage food industry faced plenty of resistance years ago, we can
expect the micro restaurant industry to have its growing pains before becoming widely accepted.
And why do I think this new industry will weather the resistance? Quite simply because
it is meeting a real need and transforming people's lives for the better.
But you don't have to take my word for it... I'd rather you hear from the producers themselves! So this year,
you can look forward to hearing some of these incredible stories on my podcast.
As you listen, I trust that you'll also see why I'll be putting more and more focus on micro restaurants in 2023 and beyond!
Until next week,
David
P.S. Just to clarify -- this doesn't mean that I am shifting any focus away from cottage food businesses. Rather, my goal with Forrager is (and always has been) to help people start a food business from home, in whatever form that takes!