Guides › Licensing
The permit you need before the first order
This is the question people ask last and should ask first. Whether you can legally sell the food you are about to sell depends on where you cook it, what it is, and who you are selling it to. This is not legal advice — it is the list of things to check, so the phone call to your health department is a short one.
The single most common misunderstanding: cottage food laws generally do not cover catering. Most states have a route that lets somebody sell certain low-risk foods made at home — baked goods, jams, things that do not need refrigeration — often with a sales cap and a requirement that the sale be direct to the consumer. Catering Deck, which usually means potentially hazardous foods prepared in quantity and often served off-site, tends to sit outside it.
People find this out after they have started, which is the worst time.
The things that actually vary
Where the food is prepared. Most states require a licensed commercial kitchen for catering. Commissary kitchens exist for exactly this and are how a large number of caterers start; renting time in one is normal and is not a sign of a small operation.
Who has a food handler certification. Requirements differ by state and sometimes by county, and often distinguish between a manager-level certification and a basic one for staff.
The health department permit itself. Usually county rather than state, usually involving an inspection, and usually specific to a category of operation. A permit for a restaurant is not automatically a permit to cater off-site.
Mobile operations. Trucks and carts have their own regime, frequently including a requirement to operate from a licensed commissary rather than independently, plus permits in each jurisdiction you park in.
Alcohol. Entirely separate, entirely its own licence, and in many states a caterer cannot serve it without one held specifically for that purpose.
Temporary event permits. Serving at a public event, a market or a festival often needs its own short-term permit, applied for per event, sometimes weeks ahead.
The one that surprises people
Who you are selling to can change the rules. Selling to the public at a market, selling to a private household, and selling to a public institution or a care home can fall under different requirements, with the last of those often much stricter. If you are moving into institutional work, check before quoting, not after winning.
Insurance is not a permit, and you need both
General liability is usually required by venues rather than by law, and many venues will not let you through the door without a certificate naming them. Product liability is a different cover and is the one that matters if somebody becomes ill. Neither substitutes for the health permit and the health permit does not substitute for them.
What to actually do
One phone call to your county health department, before the first paid order, with three questions: what permit does an off-site caterer need here, does my kitchen qualify, and what certification do my staff need. It is a short call and they answer it every day.
Then keep the certificates somewhere you can produce them in a minute, because a venue will ask for them at the least convenient possible moment.
What this means for your website
Nothing, and that is the point. We do not check permits, we do not verify certifications, and we are not going to display a badge suggesting we have.
What the site does is keep the record of what was ordered, for whom, on what date and with what allergen information — which is the part you will want if anybody ever asks.