If you have a love for cooking and have considered turning this passion into a business, it’s usually a good idea to keep your operation small at first until you’ve proven your idea. As part of this testing period, you may find that working within your own home kitchen is the best option. However, when doing a lot of cooking, you will likely need to make some changes to your kitchen in order to have what you need.
To help you in doing this, here are three ways to prepare your home kitchen for some commercial cooking purposes.
Prepare For Securing The Right Licenses
The very first thing that you’ll need to do before you start cooking is to ensure that you have the right licenses for cooking at home and then selling those products. Depending on where you live and the laws of that area, the hoops you’ll have to jump through as part of this process will vary.
One thing that you’ll have to have regardless of where you live is a food handlers permit and a license to make and sell food out of your home. This might require having a safety inspection of the kitchen and other work areas, so make sure everything in your kitchen is up to code and ready to be inspected if and when this time should come.
Create More Storage Space
While most home kitchens are large enough to house everything you need for home cooking, if you’re going to be cooking larger quantities like you do with commercial cooking, you’re likely going to need some additional storage space in your kitchen to accommodate you. Especially since buying in bulk will help you save some money for your business, it’s vital that you have a safe place to keep all of your products.
For many home kitchens doing commercial cooking, you’ll need to get a place to store both shelf-stable and refrigerated foods. While you can put shelf-stable foods in almost any dry and dark space that you have within your house, you may need to get a larger refrigerator or commercial chiller to help you keep your perishable bulk items at the proper temperature.
Procure The Necessary Equipment
For the exact type of food that you’re going to be making as part of your new food business, it’s very likely that you’ll also need to purchase some new equipment. Make sure, however, that before you buy something that you need for your operation that you have space for it in your kitchen. Otherwise, you could find yourself having to spend money on a kitchen remodel in addition to your new business equipment.
If you’re in the early stages of starting your own food business from home, consider using the tips mentioned above to learn how you might need to adjust your kitchen to make this work.
