Hi,
I was wondering where the WFO mobile caterer's make their dough and prep their other food items?
Do you use a commercial kitchen? If so, what does that cost?
Thanks,
Scott
Your ability to cater or vend primarily rest's on your state & local laws which governed by your county's heath department. I operate a BBQ catering business with everything cooked at the location of the party and nowhere else, By law I am technically not a caterer. I am a "Contract Chef" that uses my own equipment to serve private parties food cooked on location on private property. Once you say the word "Cater" to a health department worker, they expect you to be cooking at a central location and delivering "ready to eat" foods there. So be careful with your terminology when speaking with them, and research the requirements for a "Contract Chef" in your area and see if you can modify your operations to fit in those tight regulations.
I personally do not need a commissary or restaurant kitchen to work out of, because there is no prep-work that needs to be done before the event we are cooking for. I was granted a variance on a few rules because of our long term relationship history with his familiarity with my restaurant operations.
Now If I were to get a request to cater an event at a public location, I would need a health department certified and licensed kitchen as a home base to do prep at, and to sanitize wares. I had to do that last year to the tune of about $1K in licensing, and working out a deal with a local restaurant to let me uses their location as my base on the paperwork, because I needed a special license for doing this on state owned property instead of private.
What you may be able to do, is rent a church kitchen by the day needed to prep your supplies, and to return to for washing and sanitizing your tools.
I suggest you go to your states .Gov website and do a little research, enroll in a "Serv-Safe" class, and get certified. If your state offers a "Food Managers Licence" get one of those too.
Many H-D inspectors are more receptive to people that are more familiar with the laws than someone with an idea who is walking in off the street think he is going to be able to sell food to the public that he made in the kitchen at his home.
PA seems to be the state with the tightest regs in the country, with many southern states being more lax.
You may also be required to have a screened work area while catering too. Many people have been able to make a "Mobile food vending trailer" to get around this. Since you just need cold storage and a mixer, the price will be much cheaper without needing exhaust hoods and such. I bet you could get in an H-D certified prep trailer for less than $20K
I am a current caterer that is planning expanding into a restaurant location, I have been doing this for a while, I am willing to help any way that I can. Just ask.
And at the same time, I will be asking for pizza info and I hope to get some help with that.
