A Missouri grandmother has refused to stop serving free breakfasts to her community after she was threatened with legal action by the local health department.
Kathy Kite, 55, has been getting up at 3.30am every day since May to cook breakfast for dozens of people at her home in Harrisburg, a tiny town of about 300 located about halfway between Kansas City and St Louis.
She told the Daily Mail that she began serving the meals because the gas station where she works stopped serving breakfast after Covid, but regulars would still come by asking for it.
‘Everybody kept saying: “We want breakfast!” And I said, well, I can cook,’ Kite said over the phone while watching her grandkids at her daughter’s house.
She explained that in Harrisburg, ‘you have to go 30 miles in any direction to even eat out – eat breakfast anywhere.’
The grandmother’s cooking, which includes breakfast burritos, sausage, egg and cheese biscuits, gravy and coffee, quickly became a hit and more people started coming by the house.
But in early July, Kite was stunned when she received a letter from the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department stating that she needed to obtain a food permit or face legal action.
The letter, which the grandmother shared with the Daily Mail, stated that it was sent after the health department received a complaint.
Missouri grandmother Kathy Kite was threatened with legal action by her local health department after she began serving free breakfast to her community
Kite has been getting up at 3.30am since May to cook for locals in her small town of Harrisburg
Kite makes egg sandwiches, breakfast burritos, bacon, scrambled eggs, coffee and more. She serves the food at her home and does not ask for payment
Kite received this letter in July from Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department stating that she needed to obtain a food permit or face legal action
It informed Kite that if she wanted to keep serving food to her community, she would need to install a commercial kitchen, submit paperwork for a food permit and pay the fees associated with obtaining a permit.
Kite said: ‘I called Chrystal Smart at the Boone County Health Department and explained to her I was not running a business out of my home. I just had some friends coming over for breakfast.
‘She proceeded to tell me that I was running an illegal restaurant, as she put it, out of my home because you’re not allowed to feed the public without a license,’ the grandma continued.
‘I said: “But I’m not feeding the public. I’m feeding my community.” These people are my friends and family. It’s less than 300 people in my community and I was born and raised here. I know everyone that comes to my home,’ Kite said.
The grandmother also said it is ‘not feasible’ for her to install a commercial kitchen in her home just ‘to make 15, 16 burritos and four or five biscuits.’
‘My house is over 100 years old. I’m not gonna jeopardize the integrity and spend hundreds of thousands of dollars that I don’t have to upgrade my kitchen,’ she added.
She also said ‘anyone’ is welcome to visit her home to see that it is clean. ‘I’m just trying to be good to my community,’ Kite said.
The grandmother emphasized that she is going to keep feeding people for free and that she will not be intimidated by the letter she received from the health department.
Kite said she was scared about potential fines or jail time after receiving the letter from the health department, but she will not stop cooking for her community
The department said it sent the letter after receiving a complaint from someone who allegedly became ill, but Kite contends her home is clean and that she is not ‘doing anything wrong’
In a statement to The Daily Mail, the Columbia/Boone County Public Health and Human Services Department said that it sent the letter after receiving ‘multiple complaints about food being served out of Ms. Kite’s residence, resulting in foodborne illnesses.’
The statement further said: ‘Ms. Kite’s home had an open sign, tip jar, advertised food on social media and a sign in her yard — all things that are typically associated with a food establishment.’
But the department denied threatening jail time and said: ‘Our role in public health is to follow up on these complaints to prevent the spread of foodborne illnesses. The letter Ms. Kite received details the steps she can take to come into compliance with Boone County Food Code.’
Kite told the Daily Mail: ‘Never once have I ever, ever charged anybody.’ She said that she had a tip jar, which she got rid of after receiving the letter, purely because people kept wanting to give her money so she can keep buying ingredients.
The grandma also said that during her call with Smart, the health department representative, she was told that the illness complaint was determined to have been a false report after further investigation, yet she was still sent the letter.
As to who submitted the complaint, Kite said she has ‘no idea, and it bothers me… If someone had a problem with what I was doing, why didn’t they just come to me?’
Although the health department claimed it did not threaten jail time against Kite, a response to the department, penned by attorney Dave Roland of the Goldwater Institute on behalf of the grandmother, said the threat was implied.
Roland wrote that violation of the food code Kite was accused of breaching is a Class A misdemeanor, which is punishable by fines of up to $2,000 and up to one year in prison.
Kite explained that she had a tip jar purely because people kept wanting to give her money so that she could buy more ingredients
Kite began serving breakfast after the gas station where she worked stopped preparing it after Covid
The attorney wrote: ‘The demands made in your Letter may violate both the US and Missouri Constitutions. Both the federal and state constitutions protect Ms. Kite’s right to host guests in her home, including offering food and refreshments on a non-commercial basis.
‘Any attempt to impose criminal or civil penalties on Ms. Kite for providing food or refreshments to guests in her home on a non-commercial basis would violate constitutional safeguards.’
The lawyer’s letter also requested that the health department explain how Kite’s actions violate the law in more detail and asked if there are any steps she must take that would allow her to keep offering free food to her community without obtaining a permit.
Roland shared a statement with the Daily Mail that said in part: ‘The hospitality Kathy is offering to her community is consistent with the best aspects of American culture and history.
‘Americans have always embraced the virtue of opening their homes to friends, family, and even strangers – and there has never been a need to get the government’s permission to engage in this sort of hospitality.
‘This situation is the very definition of “unnecessary governmental intrusion,” which is why we have stepped in to secure Kathy’s freedom to continue providing food to those she has welcomed into her home.’
Kite said she cooks purely as a service for her community and that she has never charged anyone for her food
Since the attorney sent a letter to the health department on August 20, Kite said she has not heard anything more from officials.
Offering some final words, Kite said: ‘Reach out and help your fellow man. That is what America is based on. It’s who we are as a people.
‘And don’t be afraid of getting in toruble with the government… If you do something out of the goodness of your heart – if you give out good – good’s gonna come back to you.’
