Home-based catering businesses

You will have to contact your local health department for a copy of their regulations for food preparation for public sale and consumption. These rules are pretty rigid in order to protect you and the consumer of your goods.

You will need a commercial kitchen separate from your home kitchen. It will have to be regularly inspected by the health department.

An alternative is to run the business of your catering company (the marketing, appointment keeping and books, for example) out of home home, and to rent kitchen space from either a community center or a restaurant that isn't open for three meals a day. Another option: "Kitchen incubators," where they help preparation businesses with their commercial kitchen requirements. Contact your local university business school or Small Business Development Center to learn more.

The type of catering you do will also determine how much red tape you have to comply with.