Small time producers are a BIG deal for the local food system. Here are some places to look for kitchens and permitting.

Here are a few opportunities and developments when it comes to helping small food businesses get started.

• The City of Long Beach’s Department of Health and Human Service licenses cottage food producers, both for direct and indirect sale.
• Permits and licenses for temporary food facilities, mobile food operations, and shared kitchens are all found on their website.
• The City does not yet have a Micro-Enterprise Home Kitchen Permit system for hot meals, as of 12/2022. Without this opportunity, many have taken to utilizing shared kitchen facilites and incubators.
• Commercial kitchens take on a lot of different approaches, finding the right one can help test or implement your concept.

New changes are coming in 2023, due to modernization in the California Retail Code. We expect to see new guidelines for food trucks and food trucks rolling out, and will update this page.