Beyond the cost of each permit (some ran into the hundreds of dollars) was the time the entire process would have taken. It’s sequential—you need a permit from one before you can begin the process for another. Food Safety permits predicate everything, which makes sense, but even the licensing process, for example, cannot begin before clearance from Public Works. It would have taken several months before we could make our first crepe. That’s ridiculous.

This problem is not contained to the Boston mobile food industry, of course. To open a new restaurant in New York, for example, requires some 30 permits from 11 different government bodies.

I believe in government regulation. We don’t want people recklessly selling food on the side of the road. It endangers our health and trust in the food industry. Government policy, however, should focus on lessening barriers to entry. We should be encouraging new companies to enter markets, not shutting them out. New companies create competition, jobs, and ultimately benefit the entire economy, but complex and burdensome permitting processes prevent many companies from ever getting off their feet. We need to decrease regulatory obstacles that discourage businesses from trying.

Reducing barriers to entry should include consolidation of permitting to fewer government bodies and reduction of needless regulation. Requiring companies to go through many agencies, as with the mobile food industry, drags out the process, creates large opportunity costs, and disincentives new firms. Decreasing permitting agencies helps entrepreneurs and reduces bureaucratic costs. Policy should also reduce unnecessary requirements like the need for a sink and for an approved cart storage location.

It’s time to improve the permitting process and start making crepes.

James F. Kelleher Jr. ’17 is a Crimson editorial writer in Wigglesworth Hall.