How to cook for others?

DullGreyGuy

Probably totally the wrong place to post as its neither "old style" nor "moneysaving" but its the closest I can find.

Like cooking... like trying new things with cooking... its hard to do that when its just the Mrs and yourself especially as you then are having to deal with dietary requirements etc.

So a while back looked into a couple of websites where you can effectively post a dinner party and either charge a price per head or a "pay what you think its worth" and random people attend a meal cooked by you. Looking at others there are some clearly doing this as a business but a few seemed to be more of a hobby. One site said that as long as it was only occasional it should be ok but check with your local council and I found that with ours as soon as any money changes hands (even if intentionally loss making) its a food business and has to be graded, have process manuals etc.

I dont want to make a profit from it, I dont want to grow it into a business but I dont want to spend time/money on food for strangers that can in reality afford to pay. It's not a purely altruistic venture as I want to enjoy what I make not just make whatever can feed the most with the money. 

There used to be a place that did popup food places but it was a little more fast-food than I want and you have to do 4 nights a week for a minimum 4 months whereas I was more thinking 1-2 nights a month.

Is there an obvious idea I've missed?

Floss

Do you mean hosting a supper club?

DullGreyGuy

Floss said:

Do you mean hosting a supper club?

Supper club, dinner party... whatever you want to call it... our council requires you to be assessed as a food business which requires manuals, separate sinks for hand washing and food, labelling all food containers etc etc

Floss

Forgive my questions, but have you spoken to the food hygiene team? I ran a cake / baking business from my home for 8 years up to 2019 and the council inspection for my food rating was quite low key, mainly based around common sense & good food management. 

Perhaps have a conversation, consider how you can adapt your kitchen (I made sure things like gluten free flour were stored separately in glass jars, kept a clean fridge, stuck dated labels on things when I opened them etc) and do some research with existing set-ups. Councils don't have the time or resources to undertake an in-depth inspection of a domestic kitchen.

strawb_shortcake

There is a lady near my Mum that cooks most Saturday evenings, typically Chinese or fusion Asian. She posts the menu in the week to allow for pre-orders and then has 2 collection times where people arrive to collect their food from her home.