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Comment by enoptix | Hacker News Reader

Very interesting concept! How do food & restuarant laws apply in Europe? I know here in the US, restaurants need regular inspections by the local board of health. And restaurant is defined as "a facility that prepares and sells food directly to consumers for immediate consumption."

Presumably if people are paying the host, that host is now operating a restaurant. I can already see the food lobby going crazy over this one in the US.

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I think this is just another way it's "like AirBnB". I assert the vast majority of AirBnB rentals break either local laws regarding guest houses or hotels, and/or the provisions of the lease in rented accommodation.

Perhaps this service can spare itself from liability from the unlicensed action of its users by including in the ToS "you must have all valid licenses required by your jurisdiction if you choose to charge for hosting a meal".

Edit: I would imagine thing become even more complicated if guests receive wine or other alcoholic drinks as part of the meal.

Oh my goodness, you're almost certainly right about the liquor. There are oodles of laws about who can get a liquor license, as well as what they can serve, to whom, and when. I believe that you're often not allowed to have an establishment that serves liquor within x distance of a church, hospital, or school. Go tell the people at 100 Main Street that they're not allowed to serve liquor to their patrons, but that the people at 150 Main Street are.

Imagine that you're running a Cookening site in your home. Are you allowed to serve wine to the children? (I realize that this is a non-issue in many countries, but it's a very serious one in the US.) What are the penalties for giving wine to the children?

Did you see the thread in HN yesterday about the legal issues that AirBNB is having with various municipalities? That's nothing compared with what this company (and others like it) will have to deal with. I have to imagine that the health- and food-inspection departments in most states and cities are very tough. Plus, you might need to get insurance for everything from "patrons" getting sick, to kitchen fires. I don't even know if most homeowner insurance would cover the cost of damage if you were using your kitchen for commercial purposes and quantities.

And so on, and so on. As with AirBNB, I expect that we'll eventually find a middle ground between complete anarchy and stifling regulations. But on the face of it, operating a restaurant from your house sounds like a rat's nest (no pun intended) of financial and legal issues to deal with.

This might be an American-only thing, though. In Israel (where I live), many people run small catering companies (albeit not restaurants) from their home kitchens. Perhaps the government has rules about such things, but they aren't ever enforced. and in France, I can't imagine the government stopping people from cooking and serving (and selling) high-quality food.

We'll see, I guess...

I would think there would be a lot of trouble with this in the UK, because if you're serving food to people for money then you need hygiene certification for the folks preparing the food and hygiene assessments for the preparation areas, at the very least.

It's a nice idea, but like AirBnB it will probably fall foul of a lot of consumer protection laws, and a lot of consumer protection laws really are there for good reasons.

They are there for good reasons, but they doesn't mean they are good. At least not in their current form.

If it's legal to have your neighbors over for dinner, but it becomes illegal if they pay you back, something's wrong.

That's not really what's going on here though is it? It's more like informal restaurant businesses, with the service acting as a directory and booking portal.

Not that I'm saying this shouldn't be allowed, but there are good reasons we have hygiene rules and it's at least worthwhile investigating how they ought to apply here.

Getting a hygiene certificate is actually pretty straight-forward if it came to that and supper-clubs have been going fairly successfully for a couple of years now without being shut down as far as I know. I like the idea. In the uk anything that gets people from different social circles together is a great thing - I don't think it happens as much as it should. Good luck to them!

This. I had the exact same idea (although locally oriented) about a year ago, but then I found out that all places that serve food commercially in the Netherlands require that someone on the staff is in possession of a "Social Hygiene Diploma"[1] and the health services would shut down basically anyone who attempted to do this.

I hope you guys do well, I think there's a lot of social value in this concept. Food can bring people together in special ways.

[1] http://www.sho-horeca.nl/cursussen/spoedcursus-sociale-hygie...

Actually, there was a Dutch site featured on I think DWDD. www.thuisafgehaald.nl

Was not really a success

Looks great, keep going with it.

As many people have pointed out - there's a lot of potential problems and legislation that could get in the way. What constantly impresses me is that people can push right through and solve these seemingly insurmountable issues. I'm sure if AirBnB was first posted here they'd get back 50 reasons why it can't work.

"I'm sure if AirBnB was first posted here they'd get back 50 reasons why it can't work"

Absolutely this. It's a great site and a great idea. There are hundreds of reasons NOT to do something, but that doesn't always mean you shouldn't try.

Apparently just inviting people over on a regular basis is grounds for getting shut down in NYC.

"After hosting dinner parties for strangers in their own apartment, the NYC Department of Health took notice and shut them down, but Tamy and Felipe decided to open a restaurant in SOHO."

https://vimeo.com/45360751

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