A commissary kitchen is a licensed, inspected commercial kitchen that is used for storage of supplies, preparation of food, and washing of equipment and utensils. Commissary kitchens serve a wide variety of needs for pushcarts, mobile trucks, temporary restaurants, food peddlers and food manufactures. A commissary can be a restaurant kitchen, a manufacturing kitchen, school or church kitchen, or an actual commissary kitchen. Commissaries must meet the requirements of the
Retail Food Establishment Regulations and maintain a clean and sanitary facility where safe food can be prepared. An
Affidavit of Commissary must be completed between the commissary operator and anyone using a commissary kitchen to prepare food for sale to the public.
Important: Liquor licensed facilities cannot lease storage or work space inside their facility to anyone. Thus they cannot be used as commissaries.
Examples of this rule: You need a kitchen to make burritos to sell at sporting events. You have a friend or family member who owns a bar that has a kitchen that they don't use. You cannot use the kitchen because of the liquor license.
You own a restaurant and you want to make burritos and tamales to sell to food peddlers who would in turn sell on the streets. Your restaurant has a liquor license. This is acceptable.
You allow someone else to use your kitchen as a storage area for their pushcart and keep some food in your walk-in. You have a liquor license. This is unacceptable.
Your home kitchen cannot be used to make food for sale to the public without becoming a commercially licensed facility. To convert your home kitchen to a commercially licensed kitchen requires the following steps:
1. Approval of the Zoning Department to determine if your neighborhood is zoned for that type of business.
2. The kitchen must be designed and constructed to meet all commercial kitchen requirements.
3. Your new kitchen must not be an access way for other parts of your home (garage, living room, bathroom, etc.).
4. Your new kitchen must have its own outside access for deliveries and service and its own bathroom.
5. Your family or friends cannot use the kitchen unless they are engaged in the commercial use of the kitchen.
If you have additional questions about commissary kitchens and the requirements of their use, contact the department at 311 for Denver residents, 720-913-1311 for residents outside of Denver, or by email at
phicomments@denvergov.org