The Essentials: Location — Catering & Food Service Business

Confirm Health Department Approval Before Anything Else

Whatever kitchen space you're considering, confirm directly with your local health department that it's approved for the type of catering you plan to do, since approval for a food truck commissary doesn't automatically cover full-service event catering, and requirements can differ between counties even within the same state. Get this confirmation in writing or via a permit number before signing any kitchen lease or membership agreement, since discovering a mismatch after you've committed to a space is expensive and time-consuming to fix.

Prioritize Cold Storage and Loading Access Over Square Footage

A larger kitchen with inadequate refrigeration or a difficult loading path is worse than a smaller one that's efficient to work in and easy to load. Confirm the walk-in cooler and freezer capacity can handle your largest anticipated event's ingredient volume, and physically walk the path from kitchen to parking to check for stairs, narrow doorways, or long carry distances that will slow down every single event's load-out, since this is a recurring cost in time and physical strain, not a one-time inconvenience.

Set Your Delivery Radius Based on Real Drive Times, Not a Map Circle

Define your service radius by realistic drive time with a fully loaded vehicle during relevant traffic patterns (weekend evenings for weddings, weekday mornings for corporate events), not just a straight-line distance on a map, since traffic and route options can make a 15-mile drive take 25 minutes or an hour depending on the day and time. Charge a travel fee for anything beyond your core radius, and be honest with prospects outside a reasonable range about the added cost and complexity rather than quietly absorbing it into your regular pricing.

A Worked Example: Comparing Two Commissary Options

Commissary A is 8 minutes from your home, has ample walk-in cooler space, but is a converted retail space with a single narrow loading door up a short flight of stairs. Commissary B is 20 minutes away, has a dedicated loading dock at ground level, but shares refrigeration space with four other tenants during peak hours. For a caterer doing frequent large events, Commissary B's loading access likely saves more real time and physical strain across dozens of events per year than Commissary A's shorter commute saves in aggregate, even though A looks more convenient on paper for a single trip.

Plan for Dry Storage, Not Just Refrigeration

Non-perishable inventory, linens, chafing fuel, disposable serving ware, backup equipment, needs dedicated dry storage space that's easy to overlook when touring a potential commissary focused mainly on cooking and cold storage capacity. Confirm there's a secure, organized space for this inventory as part of your kitchen decision, since scrambling to find chafing fuel or realizing your linens got water-damaged in an improvised storage corner is an entirely avoidable problem with a small amount of upfront planning.

Check Parking and Setup Access at Your Typical Venues, Too

Location planning shouldn't stop at your commissary; the venues you serve regularly also have their own loading and setup constraints worth mapping in advance, freight elevators, load-in time windows, distance from parking to the event space. Building a simple reference sheet of these details for your most frequently used venues saves real confusion and wasted time on event day, especially for staff who haven't worked that specific venue before.

Revisit Your Commissary Choice as Volume Changes

A shared commissary that worked well at low volume can become a genuine bottleneck once your event calendar fills up and you're competing with other tenants for the same prep windows during your busiest weeks. Set a periodic check-in, roughly every six months, to honestly assess whether your current kitchen arrangement is still serving your actual volume, rather than staying by default in a space that made sense at launch but no longer fits your real operation.

Factor In Commute Time for Your Staff, Too

A commissary that's convenient for you but a long, awkward commute for your regular event staff can quietly reduce their reliability and willingness to take last-minute shifts. When evaluating a kitchen location, consider its accessibility for the staff roster you're building, not just your own convenience, since a location that's easy for your whole team to reach consistently supports the reliable event-day staffing your business depends on.

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