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One of the
biggest barriers to starting a vending cart business is the
requirement by most cities and counties that you operate from or in
conjunction with a commissary.
The definition
of what a commissary must provide to the vending cart operator vary
from city to city and county to county. It can be as simplistic as
having a place where you can dispose of contaminated water to a
facility that provides or has space for cart washing and food
preparation.
You will find
that the larger the community the more onerous the commissary
requirements will be. Large metropolitan areas will have specific
departments controlling and licensing vending carts and
commissaries. A small town may not have a requirement for a vending
cart to use a commissary at all.
If you are
planning to start a vending cart business one of the first key steps
is to find out what the commissary requirements are in the city or
county you will be operating in. This in itself can be a difficult
exercise. There is no countrywide standardization on which
government body is responsible for vending carts and for licensing
commissaries - if in fact a licensed establishment is a requirement.
The first place
to start is the department that handles vending cart licenses. A
specific licensing department may handle vending cart licenses or it
may be part of a health, restaurant, or environmental department.
Always start
with the smallest geographical government entity. By that I mean, a
town is smaller than a city, a city is smaller than a county. Most
government entities have a general information department that will
point you in the right direction.
Once you
determine if a commissary is required, request a list from the
department. In some cases, they will have a list, in many cases
they won’t. Some will allow you to use any restaurant or licensed
food preparation facility. Others will require that you use a
licensed commissary.
You will have to
pay for the service and depending on the location, it can be tens of
dollars to hundreds of dollars a month. If the licensing board
allows you to use any approved food preparation facility one of your
alternatives may be the use of a church. Church groups are
generally open to having their facilities utilized for a small
monthly donation.
Know your
communities licensing and commissary requirements before you
purchase a vending cart. The costs for commissary services can take
a business from profit to loss. Make sure all your costs are
entered into your budget calculations.
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