Commercial kitchens are inspected and licensed by your local health department. To find contact information for your local health department, visit the Forms page of this site. Unfortunately, you cannot make your home kitchen into a commercial one. A commercial kitchen must be located in a separate area away from your home kitchen with a separate entrance and locking door and it cannot be used to prepare family meals. It must contain specific appliances, shelving, stainless steel countertops, and special sinks, all of which can be expensive to implement.
Many churches, community centers and senior citizens centers have commercial kitchens and may be willing to rent space to you. Also check with caterers and with restaurants that serve only breakfast and lunch to see if you can rent space in the evening. With some searching, there is a way to make your business possible. The Idaho Department of Health and Welfare’s Food Protection Program website offers additional information.
Idaho’s Cottage Food law allows you to produce certain “low risk” foods, such as most baked goods, in your home kitchen if you sell them directly to the consumer. If you sell any food product, including baked goods, to a commercial establishment, online, or across state lines, it must be prepared in a commercial kitchen. Foods requiring refrigeration, such as cream pies, must also be prepared in a commercial kitchen. The Idaho Department of Agriculture publishes a booklet, Starting a Specialty Foods Business that contains much information you may find helpful.
