I am trying to slowly start my business but I currently can't sell without a license. I have a lot of friends wanting to buy from me, and I can't afford to just give them all cakes, so I thought a good place to start would be to rent a kitchen from a current restaurant in my area that is closed for dinner. This way, I can get licensed and start to sell and advertise a little more while saving for a store front and start to build a costumer base. I already have a few places in mind that are closed after lunch, and some already rent out to the high school a couple times a month.
I was wondering what, if anything, I should take with me to approach these restaurants about renting space. Is there something specific you would look for as an owner from someone wanting to come into your kitchen? Is there anything else I might want to consider as well?
TIA for any and all advice!
Amber

I rent a kitchen currently. when I approached the owner, I told them what days I would be needing to work there. I also told her what day I intended to bake (her oven is huge and it is a bread company/deli and I am there when they are there) I ask for fridge space and checked on freezer space.

you also need to know if you are looking for hourly or monthly. PLease keep in mind that cakes take a process, so hourly may not be the best thing...

hope it works out for ya!

Thanks for you response. I'm currently don't do more than a couple cakes a month, though I am hoping to increase this, so I will have to think about hourly vs monthly. Did the owners want to see any other information, like business plans etc.? I'm sure it depends on who you are talking to, just trying cover all my bases so I don't look idiotic when I go talk to people! LOL!

The owners of the place I rent are super nice. And they don't care about any of that. I am required to carry insurance with them listed on it though

I am also shopping around, how much can I expect to pay?

In my county (probably the whole state) ANYTHING prepared for the customer has to be transported from the prep place to the customer, so that would lead me to say no I couldn't bring items to my house for the customer to pick up. You should check with the county. The county I live in and the county I work in are two different counties with different rules. If I wanted to have my home address as my "business address" even though I prep the food at the kitchen, I would need a health permit as a caterer. In the county where the kitchen is located the permit the facility, not the actual business, so they just had to take "note" that another business was preparing food out of the location I use.

Thanks

That helps