11-year-old girl's cupcake business shut down by Madison County officials [View all]

After-school jobs are tougher to keep, apparently, than they used to be.

On Sunday, a Belleville News-Democrat story featured 11-year-old Chloe Stirling of Troy, Ill., a sixth-grader at Triad Middle School who makes about $200 a month selling cupcakes.

On Monday, the long arm of the law — in this case, the Madison County Health Department — put an end to that.

“They called and said they were shutting us down,” Chloe’s mother, Heather Stirling, told the Post-Dispatch.

Furthermore, Heather Stirling said the officials told her that for Chloe to continue selling cupcakes, the family would have to “buy a bakery or build her a kitchen separate from the one we have.”

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Heather Stirling said she wasn’t looking for special consideration for her daughter and would be willing to get the necessary licenses and permits to run a business.

“But a separate kitchen? Who can do that?” Heather Stirling said.

http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/columns/joe-holleman/year-old-girl-s-cupcake-business-shut-down-by-madison/article_bc209e8a-bb8f-5b6f-b6cc-09852ad2e458.html