I just met with my local community center and they agreed to rent out their kitchen to me so I can pursue my cookie business. Does anyone else do this? Can you offer any pointers? I was planning on starting out slow - renting maybe for one weekend a month and knock out a bunch of cookies and cookie bouquets.
I am open to any advice/comments!
Thanks!

I would also be interested knowing this. I have often thought about checking into this but in the area I am in there are not a lot of options.

I never thought about trying a community center. Good idea! Thanks for sharing! May I ask how much they are going to charge you? Or have you hashed that out yet? And if you don't want to answer the money question...don't worry about it!

I checked into doing the same thing in Georgia and using a community center is not allowed (or a church or anything similar). The only facility they recognize is one that has been inspected and licensed by the Department of Agriculture. You are not even allowed to use a restaurant kitchen. Not sure if it's the same in your state. The only option I have here is to rent a co-op shared kitchen (outrageously expensive) or convert one of my rooms into a separate kitchen (even more expensive). Yet in Tennessee (just an hour away from me) using your own kicthen is completely legal. Frustrating!

cylstrial - Well - they were going to charge me $20 per hour but my local farmer's market called me today and they want me to have a booth to sell my cookies. They told me about another facility that is cheaper - so I have left them a message - we will see how much cheaper they are. The community center is inspected by the department of agriculture - in fact they stopped by to inspect it as I was in the meeting. haha. In Washington - you just have to use a commercial kitchen that has been approved, and most community centers here have been.

Thanks LesGateauxCheri! I hope that the other place is cheaper than $20 an hour. That is pretty hefty! You would have to charge a bunch or work really fast to get the cake done. Good luck! Let us know how the other one goes.