{"id":312532,"date":"2026-03-04T12:20:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:20:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/312532\/"},"modified":"2026-03-04T12:20:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-04T12:20:10","slug":"children-reported-to-queensland-health-over-unlicensed-cupcake-stand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/312532\/","title":{"rendered":"Children reported to Queensland Health over ‘unlicensed’ cupcake stand"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Kelly<\/p>\n

\nKelly Stothard and Kaden Heber-Stothard were shocked by the council’s email.
\nPhoto: 612 ABC Brisbane \/ Kenji Sato\n<\/p>\n

By Kenji Sato, Craig Zonca and Loretta Ryan, ABC<\/p>\n

Kelly Stothard was flabbergasted when she received a letter from Brisbane City Council threatening her with fines over her children’s cupcake stand.<\/p>\n

On Monday, the council informed Stothard it had received a complaint of “food being manufactured and sold” from her address without a food business licence.<\/p>\n

The letter said the Stafford Heights mum had 24 hours to submit a food business licence application, or she could be penalised.<\/p>\n

“A review of council records and an investigation into the above premises indicates that you are operating a food business without a food business licence,” the letter read.<\/p>\n

“The operation of a \u2026 food business without a current food business licence is an offence under section 49 of the Food Act 2006 and can result in an on-the-spot fine or prosecution.”<\/p>\n

Stothard said she was astonished that somebody had dobbed her children in to the authorities.<\/p>\n

\"Kelly<\/p>\n

\nKelly Stothard and Kaden Heber-Stothard say they were not doing anything wrong.
\nPhoto: 612 ABC Brisbane \/ Kenji Sato\n<\/p>\n

“I remember doing those sorts of things as a kid, so I was very shocked that someone went that far to complain,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Back in the 80s and 90s kids used to be out all the time doing door-knocking sales, playing out on the street, but these days they’re inside on tablets.<\/p>\n

“I support the kids when they want to get outside and do things and earn a bit of extra pocket money.”<\/p>\n

Her son, Kaden Heber-Stothard, said the cupcake and lemonade stand was a joint idea by several children in the neighbourhood.<\/p>\n

“I feel a bit bad that we got dobbed in for having a lemonade and food stand,” Kaden said.<\/p>\n

“We’re not doing anything wrong.”<\/p>\n

Live and let live<\/p>\n

Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner told 612 ABC Brisbane that the council would not be taking the complaint any further.<\/p>\n

Schrinner said an anonymous resident had sent a complaint to Queensland Health, which in turn asked the council to investigate.<\/p>\n

However, Schrinner said they would be following a “live-and-let-live” policy in this instance.<\/p>\n

“Technically by the letter of the law, you can’t just do that, but my view is – c’mon, let’s not complain about kids selling cupcakes,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The state government does set the rules when it comes to food safety. Yes, those rules exist for a reason, but in this case, let’s not go over the top in terms of a response.<\/p>\n

“I’m not suggesting people break the law, but the reality is we’ve got to have a bit of flexibility here.”<\/p>\n

Stothard said she was pleased that her children would be able to continue their cupcake stand.<\/p>\n

– ABC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kelly Stothard and Kaden Heber-Stothard were shocked by the council’s email. Photo: 612 ABC Brisbane \/ Kenji Sato…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":312533,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[48,47,42,43,49,46,44,45,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-312532","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-audio","9":"tag-current-affairs","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-podcasts","13":"tag-public-radio","14":"tag-radio-new-zealand","15":"tag-rnz","16":"tag-top-news","17":"tag-top-stories","18":"tag-topnews","19":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312532","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312532"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312532\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/312533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312532"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312532"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312532"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}