Ok as many of you know I have been working on getting my stuff produced with a co-paker. My wife and I are toying with the idea of a Concession Trailer for the fair season. Would the FDA concider a trailer (properly equipped) to be a commercial kitchen?? It will have everything I need to produce...just a thought....
commercial-kichen commercial Kitchen??????
- Thread starter Dyce51
- Start date
Sound like it'd be okay for ready-to-eat foods only. Check with your city hall. They'll route you to the right dept.
city hall told me to go to the county health board....they say they have to approve it for concessions and as for useing it as a commercial kitchen to produce sauces to talk to the FDA...thats next step just wanted to get some input from you guys too....I have not talked to the FDA yet....
Sounds like you're making the right calls. From what I understand a kitchen like that is only good for food to be served and not packaged. You should ask them exactly what you need to be certified for food packaging (processing) and maybe you can hook your trailer up!
Dyce51 said:
From my understanding, dealing with officials in VA, your State Board of Health would be the actual inspecting official. I had to get my home kitchen inspected and approved for my sauce. Even though I needed to pass the FDA's standards, the State of VA conducted the inspection which covered all inspections needed for county, state, and federal. I was told to do this buy the FDA through email correspondence.
cajunheat said:
The ODA (Ohio Dept. of Agriculture) won't let us use our home kitchen.....the have certain food items that can be made in home kitchens but sauces are not included. That would be a dream come true if they would let us.......It is quite expensive to rent a kitchen to produce that is the main reason I haven't got any of my sauces produced....
Ohio is as I understand from family there, very much like it is here in NC. Since both states are very agriculturally minded and don't want any bad products coming out of the state, a commercial kitchen license is pretty hard to come by for anything that is not a permanent structure. your best bet is to get a simple trailer for the fair season(rent it perhaps) and use the money for a commercial kitchen rental. I first started out by using a restaurant that was fully inspected and worked there the days they were closed. Cost was around $20 an hour for everything.
racecitysauce said:
That is the other option I have. The problem I'm having is no restaurant in my area are willing to do that. The keep telling me because of insurance reasons or that they barely have enough room for their stuff let alone someone else....
Thanks for all the advice...
Around here I always see a church or a fraternity (Masons, Lions, etc) hosting some sort of pancake breakfast, or ziti dinner, or something like that to raise money. To serve the public I believe you need a commercial license. I am just brainstorming here, but a place like that, or maybe a VFW, might have a kitchen that is already licensed and can be rented cheaply, or would let you get it licensed. Just an idea.
wordwiz said:
Even better idea. A school like you suggested would probably have a good facility and also have at least weekends open for use.
There used to be a bar near me that had hot sauce under the counter. The owner would sometimes bring it out and show it off. He had a lady using his kitchen to bottle sauces that she sold at the local farmers market. When ever we would order one of those cardboard pizzas he would ask if we wanted some sauce with it. We got pretty hooked and started buying bottles of it from him.