The local Health Departments want to make sure that cooks are following the proper guidelines for the safe handling of food. This to prevent dangerous pathogens such as salmonella from making people dangerously sick. The things they look for are adequate cooling and freezing temperatures for the storage of meat and other perishables inside refrigerators. They also demand that preparation tables and other surfaces are clean and capable of being thoroughly cleaned to prevent bacteria from growing. They look for proper ventilation.

Health Department Requirements for Commercial Kitchens is a post from: Commercial Kitchens for Rent

Urban Horizons Kitchen is a post from: Commercial Kitchens for Rent

Cupcakes on the bubble?

My girlfriend loves to bake. And her cupcakes are to die for. She was thinking about selling cupcakes by setting up a table at the nearby Metro Station (we live in the Washington D.C. area). Aside from whether or not she can get away with selling this way without some sort of street permit (we are going to look into this) we know that she will have to rent a commercial kitchen to be within the law.

What we don’t know is whether the whole cupcake thing is a passing trend.

She was all excited about this until I showed her an article in Slate about the cupcake bubble:

The current recession, which started in late 2007, laid the groundwork for the recent proliferation of cupcake stores in American cities. Lots of people know how to make really tasty cupcakes, which are simple products with cheap basic ingredients. Baking cupcakes doesn’t require a large amount of capital investment, and it’s relatively easy to scale up without hiring lots of workers. It takes about as much labor to produce three dozen cupcakes as it does to make one dozen. Meanwhile, storefronts in heavily trafficked areas became cheaper with the decimation of local retail. And so in the past year, casual baking has turned into an urban industry.

So, we’re thinking it’s still not to late to start out with cupcakes and then add another product like granola or cookies. Then we could transition into these new products as people lost interest in cupcakes. She wanted to just get started at the metro, but then find a cheap storefront since rents are down…just like the Slate writer Daniel Gross says.

So, what do you think?

Is It Too Late to Open a Cupcake Business is a post from: Commercial Kitchens for Rent

However, sometimes people do get into trouble for baking and selling without having their kitchen officially inspected and passed by a health department official. Take the case of “piegate” as reported by the Wall Street Journal. A church in Pennsylvania got into trouble when health department officials inspecting the churches kitchen spotted some pies that were not baked in the kitchen but brought from home by some “little old ladies.”

Sold for $1 a slice, homemade pies have always been part of the Lenten fish-fry dinners at St. Cecilia’s, located in this tiny city near Pittsburgh. Similar dinners are held in church basements and other venues across the country this time of year.

The problem is the pies are illegal in Pennsylvania. Under the state’s food-safety code, facilities that provide food at four or more events in a year require at least a temporary eating and drinking license, and food has to be prepared in a state-inspected kitchen. Many churches have six fish fries a year, on Fridays during Lent. St. Cecilia’s has always complied with having its kitchen licensed, so food made there is fine to serve. But homemade goods don’t make the cut.

Forced to not sell the home made pies, people instead bought and donated store bought pies (which no doubt paled in comparison.) The publicity wound up making the annual fish fry a big success ironically.

Find commercial kitchens in Pennsylvania.

Piegate! PA church gets into trouble for selling pie is a post from: Commercial Kitchens for Rent