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So my son has started nursery school here in Massachusetts. It's a cooperative, meaning that the parents do a lot (all, really) of the administrative work. I am on the Hospitality committee -- really, I AM the Hospitality committee -- which mostly means that a few times a year I have to cook dinner for 75 people on an impressively restricted budget. (Kudos to me: I fed everyone tonight, and got lots of compliments, and the total budget was $22.09.)
I have just been told that twice a year I'm to make food and sell it at fundraising events. At the Auction, I believe it's usual to run a sort of stand, but I don't know the details. At the Yard Sale, it's usual to fire up a grill and charge people for weenies and burgers and whatnot.
Now when I heard this, I heard screeching brakes and tires in my head. I went online and pored over parts of the FDA and Massachusetts relevant laws. And as far as I can tell, if I'm doing this, I (or the nursery school) am subject to the kinds of regulations and liabilities and whatnot that apply to restaurants, caterers, etc. The only limitation I see on stuff like this is if you sell foods that have essentially no serious tendency to food-borne diseases, for instance if you run a bake sale and don't sell cheesecake (which is explicitly forbidden). If we sell food at cost, i.e. not to make a profit but just to entertain people and encourage them to buy more stuff at the auction or yard sale, then we're OK, because the nursery school is a nonprofit charitable organization, but I still need to post a sign stating that we're not inspected and all that. But if we try to make a dime from the food, we're in violation of more laws than I can count, even if I take my shoes off and use multiplication.
But the thing is, some of you people do this for a living and know what you're talking about. Am I misreading something, or not noticing something important, or the like? Or do we have to sell at cost?
HELP!
So my son has started nursery school here in Massachusetts. It's a cooperative, meaning that the parents do a lot (all, really) of the administrative work. I am on the Hospitality committee -- really, I AM the Hospitality committee -- which mostly means that a few times a year I have to cook dinner for 75 people on an impressively restricted budget. (Kudos to me: I fed everyone tonight, and got lots of compliments, and the total budget was $22.09.)
I have just been told that twice a year I'm to make food and sell it at fundraising events. At the Auction, I believe it's usual to run a sort of stand, but I don't know the details. At the Yard Sale, it's usual to fire up a grill and charge people for weenies and burgers and whatnot.
Now when I heard this, I heard screeching brakes and tires in my head. I went online and pored over parts of the FDA and Massachusetts relevant laws. And as far as I can tell, if I'm doing this, I (or the nursery school) am subject to the kinds of regulations and liabilities and whatnot that apply to restaurants, caterers, etc. The only limitation I see on stuff like this is if you sell foods that have essentially no serious tendency to food-borne diseases, for instance if you run a bake sale and don't sell cheesecake (which is explicitly forbidden). If we sell food at cost, i.e. not to make a profit but just to entertain people and encourage them to buy more stuff at the auction or yard sale, then we're OK, because the nursery school is a nonprofit charitable organization, but I still need to post a sign stating that we're not inspected and all that. But if we try to make a dime from the food, we're in violation of more laws than I can count, even if I take my shoes off and use multiplication.
But the thing is, some of you people do this for a living and know what you're talking about. Am I misreading something, or not noticing something important, or the like? Or do we have to sell at cost?
HELP!
