The coffee cart startup that lasted 11 days before the health inspector shut us down

Back in 2018 my buddy and I put $3,400 into a used espresso cart we found on Craigslist in Portland. We thought we had everything figured out, permits, beans, a spot near a park with tons of foot traffic. Day 3 we were doing okay, maybe 40 cups a day, but then the health department showed up on day 11 and cited us for not having a commercial hand wash station. We tried to fight it but the city code was clear, you can't just use a jug of water and a bucket. We ended up selling the cart for $800 and splitting the loss, which was brutal. Has anyone else run into a regulation that completely killed their side hustle before it even got going?

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chen.james24d ago

Did you guys price out the hand wash station before dropping $3,400? Knowing the code first saves a lot of hurt.