[silisili]

Is it similar to the US in that in theory you need a ton of permits, but in reality everyone kinda turns a blind eye to it unless you get too big/at a big venue?

For example, in the past year I've seen a guy selling tamales from his car trunk, someone selling candy apples from a cooler on the side of the road, one person making crab boils from their house, and a ton of people doing small batch type things on FB marketplace. Most of these would violate our local cottage laws, but I've seen police officers buying the tamales for example!

I have no doubt if someone got sick they could probably win a civil case of sorts, but I don't think I've seen or heard of any kind of attempt to shut down any of this via law.

[Spooky23]

It’s one of those things that’s fine until it isn’t. Eventually some Karen or restaurateur will rat you out to the sales tax authorities.

The cop thing doesn’t really matter. They stay in their lane until they don’t. I had an uncle who was NYPD, they’d randomly (from their pov) get tasked with cracking down on random crap. Sometimes they’d give folks a heads up.

In NYC the landlords are rapacious, so it’s difficult to compete with Pedro’s Taco Truck.

[ungreased0675]

It’s because the best tamales come out of the back trunk of a car, or a cooler behind the counter of your local Mexican bakery. It’d be a tragedy to lose those flavors.

[silisili]

Absolutely, they were fantastic. I was a purchaser of said tamales pretty often. It was an older guy who said his wife made a bunch each morning, so he went out to sell them each day.

[dyauspitr]

Usually in the US, unless it’s a massive city, vendors selling things out of their yards/trunk are ignored. It’s when you have a permanent/semi permanent stall that things get serious. Also selling things out of your trunk opens you up to significant liability risks if someone gets sick and can find you.

[danielhep]

Depends heavily on the city too. I think this kind of thing is more accepted in NYC and LA with big immigrant communities from countries with more informal economies, but in Seattle it gets shut down quickly.