Early Mornin,
I feel your pain. Every time I see a post from a hobbyist/newbie I :roll:. For some time I internally railed against them.
Then came the realization that:
A) They know they are doing business illegally and just don't care (and therefore deserve any repercussions that come their way)
B) They are unaware of the food service laws/regs and need guidance and instruction to become legal (I believe that 99.9% of the folks doing things out of compliance fit this category).
I view my role on this forum as an unpaid consultant. My goal is to assist people by answering their questions and informing them of what it truly is that they are contemplating - going into business - and all the responsibilities that entails.
When we first started thinking about doing Q for the public we had no clue as to the laws regarding public food sales. To be honest it didn't even cross our minds since we never thought of it as a business. That may sound very naive but I bet if you ask 100 people at least 90 will say that very same thing. We did a couple of festival gigs out of our home kitchen. We honestly didn't know any better. After these gigs I started doing some research and found some forums (this one is the very best I have ever come across) and quickly realized that we were at great risk. It was this very forum that helped me to focus on what we needed to do to be legit.
The laws/regs can be very confusing, and sometimes difficult to even find, that most people don't know where or how to find them. I spent a good 3-4 months researching food service regs here in KS before I felt that I had a good handle on what we needed to do to be legal. This is where sources such as this forum can be a Godsend. Here they can have access to people who know the business, from both legal and operational aspects, who can lead them in the right direction.
I understand that it can be frustrating at times to feel like every answer to new posts is a repeat of every past answer. However, I then think back to how I/We got started and realize that I may be helping them to be safe, secure and profitable in a business that they may truly love.
I do have one suggestion for this site. If the Search function was located at the top of the page(s) and was more prominently displayed it might help new Users to find/use it. The majority of webpages locate their Search functions near or at the top so most Users are expecting to find it there. I was using this site for over 6 months before I even noticed it at the bottom of the page(s)