Sorry for all of the questions guys, but you all are way more help than the people who supposedly know what's going on. I am hoping to start my own cake business. I can't get licensed out of my home kitchen because we have pets and I totally understand that. I found a local church that has a licensed kitchen that is wiling to let me use their space. Here is where the confusion starts. I was in contact with the Health Department and I told her I was planning on renting out space in an already licensed kitchen and asked if there was anything else with them I needed to do and she sent me paper work to fill out to get the kitchen inspected by the Health Department and the Code Administration, for a cost of $250. I'm not sure if she didn't understand what I was saying or if she wasn't paying attention or what the deal is. For those of you renting out of an already licensed kitchen did you need to get it reinspected? I can't understand why it would need to be. My husband thinks I should go knock on her office door and talk to her face to face so that there will be no misunderstandings. I'm just starting this whole process and I have gone from to to and I'm starting to talk myself out of it. I appreciate any help or advice. Thanks!

They might just be doing that cause they want the money. I think going to sit down with her face to face would be a great idea. There's much less confusion that way.

It's not unusual. You are applying for your OWN health license and part of getting that license is being inspected. There might be pieces of equipment that your HD requires you to have that your church may not have and they have to make sure by doing an inspection.

I have a catering friend who uses a church kitchen. She said part of her inspection was to make sure she had all of the equipment needed. A church usually makes the food and serves it right away .... a caterer need holding equipment to keep the hot food hot. The kitchen may have a freezer, but the HD needs to confirm that it's big enough for TWO food operations.

Double check with them if you want, but I'd say fill out the form and write the check. If it only costs you $250 to get legal, you're way better off than most of us.

I just talked to the lady at the HD on the phone. She was so polite and helpful I wanted to jump through the phone and give her a hug. She brought up a good point about using a "shared" kitchen and not everyone cleaning up and being as sanitary as I would like them to be and that I may go in to bake and who knows what the people before me would leave for me. That being said I would still have to get a Baker's License and all that and right now I've decided to put things on hold until next year. The major reason being we have a 4 year old and next year when she starts kindergarten it will be a lot easier to try to start up a business. It will also give me more time to experiment with a lot more different cakes and fillings and icings and learn more decorating techniques. We are also planning on moving so we can find the perfect house to put in a separate kitchen just for my cakes. I feel a little like but it will happen some day. Thanks for your help!

Yes, because everything will be under YOUR business name and not theirs, so you still have to pay the fees.

The inspector did not check my rental kitchen ONLY BECAUSE there are so many other business renting it, that they would be inspecting it several times a month, which is not a realistic use of their resources. They probably inspect it quarterly at most.