Health Agency | Environmental Health

The Environmental Health Services Division (EHS) recognizes that there is a growing demand by Dependent Food Service Operators to have access to the County’s local permanent food facilities to prepare their food products. EHS’s goal is to make the sharing of food facilities by multiple businesses work smoothly, while ensuring that safe food handling practices are in place to protect the public’s health.

What is a Shared Permanent Food Facility (SPFF)?

A shared permanent food facility may be a permitted Commissary or other approved permitted permanent Retail Food Facility, such as a Restaurant, Retail Market, or Catering Operation Facility, wherein the permit holder leases or rents kitchen facilities to dependent food service operators. The SPFF must possess the adequate space and equipment necessary for the safe operation of the dependent food service operation utilizing it's services.

• A dependent food service operator is any person or business who engages in a lease or rental agreement with the permit holder of a permitted permanent food establishment, or Shared Permanent Food Facility (SPFF), to use the SPFF to perform food production and/or food service operations to supply food and related services to the general public. They may be a mobile food facility operator, a temporary food facility (food booth) operator, may provide direct sales of food products at the leased or rented permitted food establishment or host facility, or may prepare for off-site catering operations.
  • Click here for more information on Dependent Food Service Operator Permitting.
• ​​Commissaries are intentionally designed to be used by mobile food facilities such that the operational requirements of the mobile food facility can be accomplished. This permanent food facility operator will possess our commissary permit.
• Other approved Retail Permanent Food Facilities are not commissaries but are approved to share kitchen facilities. These may be approved to service some mobile food facilities, however approval is not guaranteed.

SPFFs are evaluated for their amenities and categorized into four tier classifications. These classifications determine the level of accommodation the facility can provide to various types of dependent food service operations. Click here to view the tier classification criteria.

• Click here to view the chart indicating Mobile Food Facility (MFF) types along with the acceptable shared permanent food facility classification required for MFF permit approval.