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(Sidebar: your place sounds cool! Will definitely consider it the next time I'm down there from Portland.) I am completely ignorant about the legal hoops invol

(Sidebar: your place sounds cool! Will definitely consider it the next time I'm down there from Portland.) I am completely ignorant about the legal hoops involved w/food prep/selling, though I feel it's implicit in the open-ness and formality of sites like Housefed/Munchery/Mealtik that they consider themselves legal, at least by some interpretation (like room & board? like school bake sales? Like farmer's markets with prepared food? I am legally clueless... yet can think of many places in life where I'm paying for food in non-traditional environments.) Just as AirBnB has come under fire from "real" hotels in NYC, I'm sure this will food-at-home will come under bureacratic heat... if it gets traction. (Even in Portland, which I think just passed 600(!!) food carts in 2011, "real" restaurants decided (years too late) to start complaining that food carts weren't legit (though they do have health inspections, business licenses. http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/2010/09/are-food-carts-getting-out-of-control/ http://www.portlandfoodanddrink.com/2010/09/are-food-carts-g... )) If it's not too troublesome, can you go into where you think the hard line is for in-home food selling?

robobenjie 16y ago
I think the issue is with prepared food (especially hot food) and I have to imagine that there are licenses, health inspections, etc that restaurants need to have, and if I could start a restaurant without one, then wouldn't everyone? However I've been doing more research and found this quote: Ken Sato, principal environmental health inspector for the San Francisco Health Department, says an underground restaurant would only be investigated in case of a complaint. "We'd issue a notice to cease and desist operation," he says. " from this article: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.06.05/dining-0514.html http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.06.05/dining-051... So: I guess green light?
- thesethings 16y ago
  Thanks for posting this. Portland + Seattle also have underground restaurants (which got so trendy they bore a legit manifestation, "Family Supper" ah, Portland...) I did some research about this since yesterday and found mostly information for selling food you make in your house, but sell outside your house. They call it "cottage food," (i knew the expression, but not what i meant legally). I found out that "cottage food acts" are enacted state by state, and that Oregon (where I live) has a permissive one. As for serving food right in your house, i haven't found much info yet.

robobenjie 16y ago

I think the issue is with prepared food (especially hot food) and I have to imagine that there are licenses, health inspections, etc that restaurants need to have, and if I could start a restaurant without one, then wouldn't everyone? However I've been doing more research and found this quote: Ken Sato, principal environmental health inspector for the San Francisco Health Department, says an underground restaurant would only be investigated in case of a complaint. "We'd issue a notice to cease and desist operation," he says. " from this article: http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.06.05/dining-0514.html http://www.metroactive.com/papers/sonoma/04.06.05/dining-051... So: I guess green light?

thesethings 16y ago
Thanks for posting this. Portland + Seattle also have underground restaurants (which got so trendy they bore a legit manifestation, "Family Supper" ah, Portland...) I did some research about this since yesterday and found mostly information for selling food you make in your house, but sell outside your house. They call it "cottage food," (i knew the expression, but not what i meant legally). I found out that "cottage food acts" are enacted state by state, and that Oregon (where I live) has a permissive one. As for serving food right in your house, i haven't found much info yet.