I want to start a business where I charge people to use my living room, wifi.
They can leave a tip for any of my coffee that they drink.
Is there a legality issue with this?
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google.com/search?&q=coworking– BlueDogRanchCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 5:12
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1You will need to check the zoning laws of your neighborhood. If you have 20 cars in your residential driveway on a daily basis then you might need to move your business into a commercially zoned space.– MonkeyZeusCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 14:17
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You'll also have to consider whether local health regulations, which can vary in different municipalities, are engaged because you're serving coffee, perhaps even if the coffee is offered free of (additional) charge.– phoogCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 16:57
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1 Answer
Yes.
Breach of zoning regulations: running a business in a residential area
Breach of internet providers terms of service: you need a business subscription
Breach of fire code: is your "business" rated for an occupancy of 20?
Breach of health code: Preparing food or beverages for sale without the proper certifications and a commercial kitchen
Other things to keep in mind: ADA accessibility, taxes, liability if someone is injured
Etc.
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I just checked the NYC zoning regulations and it seems that running a business from one's home is actually permitted, subject to certain restrictions, so if those conditions were met there would be no breach of zoning regulations. I have no idea about the rest of the state. Also I am not sure that my office coffee service has city certification. I don't think most cities want to get into the business of regulating such things. In other words, this answer seems to overstate the situation.– phoogCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 17:14
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Your office may qualify as a food service establishment, but the city/state is choosing not to enforce the regulation. However, if OP has 20 cars in a residential driveway they're going to have more attention put on them for that sort of thing. It does sound like they meet the definition of a food service establishment: "A food service establishment is a place where food is prepared and intended for individual portion service and includes the site at which the individual portions are provided, whether consumption occurs on or off the premises."– LuckCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 17:26
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What if we were allowing people to prepare their own coffee? So we just charged for the space of sitting at our table, nothing more.– n_1Commented Oct 29, 2019 at 20:12
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@n_1 If you're still providing the coffee machines, that would simply shift you from serving to vending. And vending has its own regulations. https://regs.health.ny.gov/volume-title-10/967401200/part-14-food-service-establishments– LuckCommented Oct 29, 2019 at 20:50