If you want to operate a catering business you will need a food business licence from Toowoomba Regional Council. A food business is defined as catering when you prepare and serve the food to the customer either on-site or at an off-site venue. Simply delivering food to customers, for example, pizza delivery, is not considered catering as it does not involve serving.

If you are planning to sublease an existing licensed kitchen, you still need to apply and hold a separate food business licence.

Caterers are required to submit a food safety program to Council for accreditation. Further information on food safety programs can be found in this guide.

If you are unsure of how you plan to operate your catering business, you may wish to speak with a Council officer. To arrange a time for a meeting please contact Council on 131 872.

On-site catering

On-site catering refers to preparing and serving food that has the potential to be hazardous to consumers at the premises where the food business is carried out.

Usually, the food is:

• of an agreed type
• for a set number of persons
• served at a prearranged time
• for a predetermined cost.

Examples of on-site catering include a:

• wedding reception centre that operates for wedding receptions only and is not open as a restaurant during the week
• hotel which operates a restaurant where customers can order off the menu, but also has a function room where the hotel caters for events and functions.

There is an exemption for on-site catering businesses that provide on-site catering:

• on not more than 11 occasions in any 12 month period; and
• for fewer than 200 persons on each occasion.

On-site catering does not include:

• preparing and serving food at a restaurant, cafe or similar food business that involves the preparation and service of food for customers that order and eat it straight away
• preparing and displaying food for self-service, for example preparing food for consumption from a buffet at a restaurant.

Off-site catering

Off-site catering refers to a business serving food that has the potential to be hazardous, at a place other than the principal place of operation for the food business. If the caterer is an off-site caterer, they would need to be licensed with the Council at the principal place of business.

Off-site catering does not include:

• delivering food under an arrangement with, or on the order of, a consumer, for example, delivering pizzas from a takeaway pizza shop
• the sale of food from mobile premises or temporary premises, for example, the sale of ice creams from a mobile ice cream van

If you are transporting food you must advise us of all the food transport vehicles involved in the catering operation.

If your business includes wholesale food manufacturing, you need to have a food recall system. Visit Food Standards to learn how to develop and conduct a food recall.

Different rules apply to licensing of non-profit organisations.

• Non-profit organisations need a licence when meals are served 12 or more times in a financial year. A meal is food that is meant to be eaten at a table with cutlery. Examples of a meal are:
  • casserole
  • roast meat and vegetables
  • curries and stir-fry
  • salad.

Examples of food that is not a meal:

• pie and sausage roll
• hot dog
• hamburger and hot chips
• sausage sizzle
• soup in a cup.

• Non-profit organisations don’t need a licence for these activities:
  • selling packaged food
  • selling unpackaged food that is not a meal
  • reheating or serving pre-prepared meals, for example, reheating frozen meals or making soup from a packet mix
  • selling food that is not potentially hazardous:
    • tea and coffee
    • biscuits and cakes
    • soft drink
    • confectionary and nuts
  • selling food that has a low risk of causing food poisoning:
    • whole fruit
    • toast
    • cereal
  • selling food that the customer helps to prepare, for example, a carer helping to prepare food at an accommodation facility
  • selling food as part of a training or educational activity, for example, a cooking course where the food produced is served to customers to raise money for the organisation
  • surf live saving clubs selling meals for a small price when a member of the club helps to prepare the meal.

You may not need a licence for these activities but all non-profit organisations still need to comply with the Food Act 2006. You can find more information in Queensland Health's Food safety in non-profit organisations.

Licensable home based food business

Home kitchens can be used to operate a food business. Some home based food businesses need to have a licence, for example:

• bed and breakfast (e.g. cooking bacon and eggs)
• farm home stay
• catering
• preparation of food to be sold at markets
• motel kitchens that are also used as a kitchen for onsite owners or managers.

If you want to start a home based food business, Council will assess your applications on a case by case basis to check if food can be produced safely in your home. There are some food safety issues to consider.

• Food storage – food for your business needs to be separate from household food.
• Equipment storage – equipment needs to be stored so it is protected from contamination, for example, from pests such as cockroaches and mice. 
• Transport and delivery – if you are picking up or delivering cold potentially hazardous food, you need to transport it below 5⁰C. It is recommended you use a chilled esky. Hot food needs to be transported above 60⁰C.
• Cold food storage – potentially hazardous food needs to be stored below 5⁰C. Council will assess if you have enough refrigerator space for both your business food and household food. Find out more about temperature control.
• Frozen food storage – frozen food needs to be stored frozen to the touch and in accordance with the directions of the packaging. Council will assess if you have enough freezer space for your business food and household food. 
• Electricity supply – your electricity supply needs to be able to power all of your appliances while you are cooking.
• Cooling – if you are cooking and cooling food in bulk, you need to have enough room in your refrigerator to cool the food in smaller containers. Find out more about cooking and cooling potentially hazardous food.
• Cleaning – all surfaces and equipment that have contact with food need to be cleaned and sanitised. Queensland Health’s Cleaning and sanitising has more information. You will need a chemical sanitiser and a domestic dishwasher. A domestic dishwasher needs to: 
• have a properly functioning temperature activated sanitising cycle that must sense 65.6⁰C or higher before the machine advances to the next step or 
• if it does not have a sanitising cycle or time-controlled sanitising cycle and forced airflow drying– be operated with inlet water temperature above 68⁰C.
• Hand washing – you need hand wash facilities with warm, running water and soap and paper towel.
• Children and pets – you need to exclude young children, pets and people who are sick from the food preparation area, when your are preparing food for the business.
• Labelling – food that is packaged for retail sale needs to be labelled. Queensland Health’s Label buster has more information on labelling requirements.

When a licence is not required for home based food business

Some home based activities don’t require a licence, for example:

• preparation of food for a student boarder
• preparation of food for a person as part of a home support service (e.g. a carer preparing food at the home of a person with a disability or family day care)
• cooking demonstrations (e.g. kitchen product demonstrations at a private residence).

Child care centre, private hospital, aged care or palliative care facility. Refer to Food Safety program.

The Food act 2006 does not apply to:

• the handling and sale of food at a tuckshop operated by a Parents and Citizens Association at a State School; or
• the handling, at a person’s home, of food intended to be given away to a non-profit organisation for sale by the organisation.

If you are preparing food for fund raising events or donating to charities, you need to make sure the food is safe. Find out the rules for donating food and how to prepare, cook, and serve food safely in food safety for fundraising events.

The temporary nature of outdoor events and markets means that all of the structural requirements of the food laws cannot be applied. However, certain minimum requirements are necessary to ensure a high standard of food handling and safe food. If food sold at a market stall is not prepared at the stall, you must ensure the premises where it was prepared meets the minimum requirements of the Food Act 2006 and has a licence if needed. This includes food that is prepared at home. All market stalls must be operated in a safe and hygienic manner.

For further information on minimum standards refer to temporary food premises.

Taste testing

Taste testing or sampling of foods can be a great way for your potential customers to ‘try before they buy’. However, if not done properly and hygienically, samples can be a source of food contamination and could spread diseases. Food that is not protected from contamination can make your customers sick.

There are many potential risks associated with taste testing:

• people - if people contaminate your food samples by breathing, coughing or touching, diseases can be spread. Someone sneezing nearby could easily contaminate samples that are unprotected
• bacteria - some bacteria and viruses can survive for hours on the surface of food. Bacteria contamination can occur if samples are not kept at correct temperatures or not separated from other foods that may cause contamination
• the surrounding environment - animals, dust, foreign objects and chemicals can also cause contamination.

While taste testing can be an effective way to sell your product, it is in your best interest, and in the interest of your customers' health, to keep your food samples free from all types of contamination.

Preparing or manufacturing the food

If you provide taste testing for your customers, you need to ensure that the food has been properly prepared. You need to ensure that the food has been prepared at a premises that complies with the Food Act 2006 and the Food Safety Standards, and is licensed under the Act, if required. If you are cooking, preparing or displaying food samples on site, for example at a market, you may need to hold a licence to operate a temporary food stall. Even if you are offering samples for taste testing of certain pre-packaged foods you may still require a licence to operate a temporary food stall.  All temporary food stalls (regardless of if a licence is needed or not) will need to meet the minimum requirements of the Act and the Food Safety Standards.

Transporting food

All food must be protected from contamination during transport. It should be kept totally sealed and transported in a clean vehicle.

• If the food is potentially hazardous (that is, required to be kept hot or cold), careful consideration must be given to how you are going to transport the food and maintain correct temperatures.
• Cold food must be kept at 5°C or less. Use refrigerated vehicles or, for shorter time periods, an esky packed with ice.
• Hot food must be kept at 60°C or higher. Use vehicles that are equipped to keep food hot or, for shorter time periods, insulated hot bags.
• You must have a food thermometer with you to ensure that food is kept at the required temperatures at all times.
• Where potentially hazardous food has not been kept under temperature control for a period exceeding 4 hours, for example during transporting or display, this food must be discarded. It must not be sold, given away or offered for sampling.

Serving food

When serving, it is important to keep the food protected from all the different types of contamination.

Ways to protect food from contamination

• Provide single serves of your product. Use disposable cups, spoons, toothpicks or other implements to minimise the amount of handling by the customer.
• Provide a physical barrier, such as Perspex between the customer and the food.
• Display small quantities, so that food samples have less time to become contaminated.
• If required, keep the food samples hot (above 60ºC) or cold (below 5ºC). Some samples may be able to be kept without temperature control, provided that time and temperatures are carefully monitored.
• Signage must be displayed adjacent to the taste testing stating ‘No double dipping, single serve only’. Supervise the samples to ensure that customers do not contaminate by re-dipping spoons or other items.
• Provide litter containers so that customers can dispose of single use items, leaving the area clean and tidy.
• Use tongs and gloves when you handle samples.

Food samples that are manufactured, prepared, transported and served correctly will have much less risk of contamination and will help you present a quality product for taste testing.