A 12-Year-Old Boy’s Ice Cream Stand Gets Shut Down, But His Entrepreneurial Spirit Persists

“He was bored a few weeks ago and told me that he wanted to have some kind of stand but a lemonade stand seemed too ordinary,” his mother Nancy told me. She frequently makes homemade ice cream and suggested that he sell some scoops to neighbors in a small ice cream stand.

“That idea really resonated with him,” said Doherty, explaining that Danny came up with a name and logo for his enterprise, and put together an Instagram page with her help. “He’s pretty good at marketing!” she added. Danny planned to donate at least half of the money he earned through his stand to a local special-needs hockey team, the Boston Bear Cubs, on which his brother plays.

A few days later, the Norwood Health Department shut down the boy’s stand for violating Massachusetts code. A complaint filed with the department led to a cease and desist order.

The shuttering of childhood lemonade stands and similar youth entrepreneurial pursuits is nothing new, but in recent years several states have passed laws to protect such enterprises. In 2017, the Utah legislature passed a bill, known informally as the “lemonade stand law,” to allow young people under age 18 to operate occasional, temporary businesses without needing a business license or permit. With the continued support of the Libertas Institute, Utah’s free-market think tank, that law was extended earlier this year to include 19-year-olds’ small businesses as well.

In 2019, Democratic Colorado governor Jared Polis signed a similar law to protect youth entrepreneurs, and other states have followed suit in recent years. It’s possible that if Massachusetts had a law like this, Danny would have been able to operate his ice cream stand without interference. Young people should be able to run pop-up summertime stands without having to navigate layers of laws, and efforts to reduce entrepreneurial barriers to entry for founders of any age should be applauded.

It wasn’t all bad news for Danny, fortunately. His ice cream stand raised just over $60 for the Boston Bear Cubs, but an onslaught of media attention regarding his shut-down story led to overwhelming support. As of Saturday, the Boston Bear Cubs have received over $10,000 in donations, including from a local ice cream shop that hosted a weekend fundraiser in support of the boy and his cause.

Nancy Doherty says that despite his stand’s setback, Danny’s entrepreneurial spirit has not faded. In fact, he is more committed than ever to finding creative ways to serve the needs of his community through entrepreneurship. “Even though he cannot move forward with serving food, his wheels are spinning,” Doherty told me. She explained that Danny received a kid-safe ice skate sharpener as a gift. “He thinks he might start sharpening skates to earn some extra cash, but Boston Bear Cubs players and volunteers will always get complimentary sharpening.”