I'm amazed at how many underground food businesses there are in my area. People advertise all kind of meals on Facebook, they only take cash app, and you can have it delivered or go pick it up (at someone's house, of course). They only make food on certain days, some do meals while other do desserts...
I run a microbakery on the side (https://www.instagram.com/stoneleigh.microbakery/) and my local government knows nothing about this operation. That said, I only sell to friends and neighbors bc if somehow my bread gets spoiled (highly unlikely, unless its focaccia and they leave it out for 2 days), I can resolve it directly with them and not have to deal w the health department.
These businesses are underground because the regulatory burden of being over the table makes them either impossible to start because of upfront costs vs future profit or impossible to to keep viable because of recurring costs.
Nobody "wants" to run an under the table business and have their income be subject to the whims of enforcement but the other option is just so bad it's the lesser evil.
