The food industry is many-faceted. Even though the rules are a little different for the factories that can vegetables from the restaurants that sell them, any food business touches on public safety and special considerations always apply. Even when a person sells food prepared in his or her own kitchen, it must adhere to strict regulations designed to protect the public.

Registration

If you want to sell or rent to a person who will be running a business that prepares food, you must keep a few things in mind. First, they must register the business well in advance of opening so it can be inspected. Every location involved must be registered as well, so if your client wants to prepare food out of her home and sell it from a mobile van, both have to be on the papers. This can impact your schedule for closing.

Zoning

Is the property zoned for the intended purpose? Check to see what laws apply to running businesses out of homes. Selling food from a home is different from making and packaging the food to be sold elsewhere.

Hygiene

When preparing food from a home intended for sale to others, higher sanitation requirements apply, which take into consideration protection against contamination and pest control. There must be screens on the windows and doors. The ceilings, floors, and surfaces must all be able to be cleaned and sanitized easily.

There needs to be hot and cold running water, hand cleaning material, and ways to dry them hygienically. Are there separate sinks for washing food and cleaning equipment? Most kitchens don’t come with that.

Toilets cannot lead directly into the food areas. If preparation of food requires changing clothes, there must be a place designated to do that.

The area must have adequate ventilation, lighting, and drainage.

Selling directly

If the property is intended for use as a direct sales outlet, in addition to the above considerations, remember that the hands that touch money cannot touch food. In order to sell efficiently, one person must take the money while another person prepares it, unless the single person involved changes gloves between customers. The obligatory involvement of at least two people can affect the planned catering meal prices.

Parking and Access

If the property is meant to be used as a direct sales outlet, be sure parking will be adequate and not prohibited by zoning laws. Even if no direct sales are intended, food and supplies will have to be delivered regularly, so driveway access for loading and unloading is an important consideration.

Trash and Waste Disposal

The property may require more than the locally supplied garbage pick-up. Often, the garbage must be pre-sorted into recycle, compost and garbage. The business may greatly increase the necessary sanitation service.

Related to that, check the water supply. Some towns have separated standards that apply to food-producing businesses from local residences. A heavy-duty water filtration system may be needed.

Previous Use

Ask yourself as well what the property has been used for in the past. This is not just a matter of finding out whether there have been any toxic enterprises on the premises previously, but the reputation of the property. If it is suitable for use as a restaurant now, it might have been used in that manner before. What was there? Did it have a good reputation or is there a stigma attached to the building? Irrational as it may be, folk legends can deter clients who find out that the new restaurant is opening in the same building where all those people died ten years ago.