Regulating the Underground: Secret Supper Clubs, Pop-Up Restaurants, and the Role of Law
19 Pages Posted: 5 Feb 2015 Last revised: 12 Mar 2015
Date Written: February 5, 2015
Abstract
Instagram pictures of elegantly plated dinners, long farm-style tables, and well-to-do people laughing in what looks like a loft apartment are followed by commenters asking, “Where is this?” This is the world of underground dining. Aspiring and established chefs invite strangers into their homes (or their friends’ stores after hours, or the empty warehouse at the edge of town, or the nearest farm) for a night of food and revelry in exchange for cash. Although decidedly anti-establishment, these secret suppers and pop-up restaurants are popular — there are websites to help people locate them, and many respected publications have penned stories about their rise. While some municipalities have been proactive in regulating these events, in other locales these dinners remain completely illegal, violating health, zoning, employment, and business-licensing regulations. At the most basic level, this Essay considers what society should make of these dinners. It asks how we should balance our societal commitments to entrepreneurial innovation, community-building, and eating good food against the rule of law.
Keywords: land use, environmental law, food law, food sovereignty, secret suppers, pop-up restaurants, zoning, health, liberty, skyboxification
JEL Classification: I12, I18, K11, K32, L66, N50, O13, O18, P32, Q1, Q18, Q15, R14, R52
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation