Professional Kitchen Vs. Mobile Kitchen?

I was reading the thread by Cracker75 and he mentions wanting to have his truck licensed as a professional kitchen rather than a mobile kitchen. Is that possible? Since I'm planning to convert a 40' school bus, I'm pretty sure I will have enough room to meet the requirements. Would that mean no commissary required?

I don't know if it is where you are located, but it is here.  Our HD refers to them as "fully self contained".  There are a couple extra requirements such as having a mop/utility sink in the unit and contracts with approved water delivery and wastewater removal companies. 
 
I'm in the process of buidling out my trailer to meet the stricter requirements and my plans are currently with the HD for review.  With the amount of space you have, it shouldn't be too difficult.  I'm working within a 17 foot trailer and have had to get a bit creative with space layout, but so far haven't hit any roadblocks.

Coolness! I'm in Maine right now but I'm moving to Florida and setting up down there.

You found the loophole!!!! I took my first trailer and made it my home base.  It is fully contained kitchen, hooked up to city water and sewer even an outlet outside for dumping waste water from my other units. All licensed and approved. Whatever they asked for, I provided. Because of the size they did not require mop sink, only because I stated I was going to put that outside and they didnt want rain water going into the sewer system, so they waived that.  As long as the HD allows such, I don't understand why anyone would want to pay a commissary.

I'm in NM and since we are now classified as a self contained mobile kitchen, we don't need a commissary in NM or TX. And we didn't need a commissary prior to our upgrade to a mobile kitchen in NM.

lornaschinske


I'm in NM and since we are now classified as a self contained mobile kitchen, we don't need a commissary in NM or TX. And we didn't need a commissary prior to our upgrade to a mobile kitchen in NM.

How do you handle the fresh water supply and the disposal of grey water?

We live in a campground. We get water from our site's hose bibb (city water) and dump our grey water down our site's sewer drain (commercial sewer system). Worked like that in TX as well.

lol, only half way related but i bought the house i live in about 10 years ago
when i bought it it had well water and septic tank, still has the septic tank, but nothing other then toilet and bathroom shower/sink go into it....
the kitchen sink drains into a buried barrel full of pebbles off to one side of the yard, i forget what its called, but its old school tech, lol
and the washing machine drains off into the ditch bank.... my ditch bank is nearly 6 foot, and i buried the drain pipe about three foot down so the vegetation would cover it just in case there were any busy bodies poking around....
i have been on city water for 9 of the 10 years, due to i had no choice in the matter, they were running a main line down the road and i had to pay no matter what, so i struck a deal i would pay without fight if they hooked me up to city water, i live in the county, so people who weren't here to see it happen always question me about it.....
i have my well water tested every year and its some of the cleanest water around, my area of town is very sandy deep down to the water table.... when i want good tasting water i always go out to the hose, and its a lot colder then the city water also.....
guess the moral of story is.....grey water aint hurting a thing, at least in my experience it hasn't
of course, if i ever get caught,or annexed into the city, i will probably be facing fines out the wazo for endangering something or the other.... 
 
just for the record, it was like this when i bought the house, i just upgraded the drain pipes to make sure they were clean and up to the task

What the sink ran into is called a leech line. It's still used for gray water.

Let that grey water sit for a week, then take a look at it. I have a 160 gal tank next to the trailer that gets pumped 2-3 times a month. Gets pretty nasty with all the grease floating on top and the bottom is several inches of sludge.
No smell in the winter, but now that the temps are warming up.........

oohh well, i dont wash grease down the drain...if i do its very very little(a film) left on plates etc... weve just always done it like that around here...
the barrel is actually buried about 3 or 4 feet down, its filled with gravel and has millions of holes drilled into it, i never smell a thing, but the grass sure does grow good that side of the yard!..... plus i pour a little ridX down the drain about 4 times a year to help keep the gunk ate up
 
edit: kitchen scraps get mixed into the compost pile, i hate hearing my friends fire up the disposal when prepping for a meal.... i get onto 'em about that!, lol

I have a couple of follow-up questions, if you guys don't mind. If my truck is also my commissary, how do I deal with the frozens? I mean, I plan on having a couple of different freezers, but do you run your genset 24/7 or do you plug in when not on the road? That leads to my second question, are the rules different for where you can park your truck if it is considered a commercial kitchen instead of just a mobile kitchen?

parrot, I see you mention that your moving to fla. if so,, that truck cannot serve as your commissary here,, you'll have to get something with municipal water and sewer.and yes i plug my trailer in when not on the road i can run all my refrigeration on a 20- 30 amp breaker. mine is a dedicated breaker.

We do the same as Buck & Vics, we plug into a 25 amp outlet when the trailer is not in use. Since we mainly do festivals we really don't have a base of operation. We do have an extra freezer and refrigerator to store in when the trailer is not in constance use. Also before you build and move check with the area you plan on moving to and find out the HD regulations. Doing the festival circuit is a lot different then trying to set up roadside. What you get away with at festivals will not come close to what you have to do before going roadside. Unless it is a commercially made concession trailer most HD's require a scaled floor plan and equipment list prior to permitting. The equipment list usually includes the manufacturers spec sheets. Also download the State's Food Service requirements for restaurants. Your mobile unit must meet all the requirements just like a brick and mortar establishment. Not to discourage you but it seems most of the southern states are tougher on mobile vending. However, if you plan ahead, do your research and meet the requirements it is possible to operate a mobile unit.

In Florida you are required to have a brick and mortar commissary  that is licensed by the state of Florida, unfortunately you must secure this prior to your mobile kitchen being approved by the inspector.
 
JodyP and Buck & Vi's comments are correct, you can research the state site.
 
Florida division of food safety

A brick and mortar commissary? Oh dear. Haha, I actually just posted a question about this, and specific to Florida as well, hmmm. So, I'd pretty much have to own my home and build one myself (or is that not allowed either?) What do most do? Are there commissaries for rent/sale? Here I know people that vend food and they basically just park their trailer at their home until a festival comes around so there's no real overhead cost unless they're actually in business. I'd love a few details on this lol, I'm planning to move to Florida in a little over a year and I hope to launch my business later on after moving to Florida.
 

Different rules for festivals. Most operate under temporary food vendor permits. Much more lenient on the rules for them.
It's all about the $$.

JodyP, I see you are from Georgia also.   Do you have a regular business liscense, or do you just get a temporary for your festivals.  I would like to get a business liscense, but I am having difficulty with it because my county does not allow mobile food vending, you must be a caterer or a personal chef.  I don't legally meet either of these requirements.  I want to do this legal but they really make it difficult.

I am also having issues with Florida, I was wondering where or how would I find a Cpmmissary for rent. Is there an agency or referral company?

That was my problem when I started,Just was not sure what to put on the HD forms but after talking to the HD Telling him I might run 1 day a week or 7  and some 1 day events and showing him my photos of the trailer he told me to put "fully self contained". So no commissary needed, My camper /Trailer conversion had a bath tub (Now mop/utility sink ) and a toilet

the best way to find a commissary is to go up one side of the road then down the other and stop at every restaurant, store that has a cafe' in it. church, etc. and ask each and everyone of them, to serve as your commissary. i did at one time see an add on craigs list for commissary around the tampa . orlando areas but not sure how they've turned out. some elks, moose, clubs like those may help you out also... yes you'll run out of patients and yes you will get turned down many times, this is meant to harden you up and to see just how bad you want to a ventur like this what your looking for is a place that has municiple water & sewer and a "grease trap" where you are able to dump your grey water.