Loyal patrons of well-known Manhattan restaurant China Fun were surprised by “the restaurant’s sudden Jan. 3 closing,” explained by owners’ son Albert Wu in a goodbye letter citing ten categories of regulation-driven cost including health insurance, insurance, and the minimum wage [New York Daily News]. The “endless paperwork and constant regulation that forced the shutdown accumulated over the years”:
“The climate for small businesses like ours in New York have become such that it’s difficult to justify taking risks and running — nevermind starting — a legitimate mom-and-pop business,” read a letter posted by the owners in the restaurant’s front door.
“The state and municipal governments, with their punishing rules and regulations, seems to believe that we should be their cash machine to pay for all that ails us in society.” …
Wu cited one regulation where the restaurant was required to provide an on-site break room for workers despite its limited space. And he blamed the amount of paperwork now required — an increasingly difficult task for a non-chain businesses.
“In a one-restaurant operation like ours, you’re spending more time on paperwork than you are trying to run your business,”
A spokesman for the office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city offered small business free help from compliance advisers.
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A spokesman for the office of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city offered small business free help from compliance advisers.
I’m from the government and I’m here to help.
Where have I heard that before?
Not only that, but the Office of the Mayor seems to have discovered a new economic theory that “free” somehow means that no one is paying for it.
WOO HOO!
In this case, as the shuttered business was a restaurant, the City has obviously proven there is such a thing as a “free lunch.”
Sen. Bernie Sanders reasoned that Americans had too many choices for deodorants, and concluded only one was sufficient. NYC apparently has concluded that its citizens and visitors have too many choices in restaurants.
A government furnished compliance adviser. Boy, there’s a scene that will turn your hair white.