In December 2023, Hope Lutheran was approved by the Gallatin City-County Health Department (GC-CHD) to operate our kitchen as a commercial kitchen. Our model is to operate as a commissary kitchen where we rent our kitchen space and equipment to other vendors who then produce food for the public in various ways (wholesale, caterers, food trucks, farmers market venders, etc.). Normally these will be smaller operators who need the use of a commercial kitchen to maintain their licenses with GC-CHD to sell safe food to the public.

In this context all people using this commercial kitchen must use and maintain the kitchen by the same set of operating procedures, including all vendors renting the space as well as all internal use by Hope and its membership. We are all equal users of the kitchen.

The over-arching goal of a commercial kitchen is to maintain the facility and have practices in place to ensure all food is produced and handled so the food is free of bacteria and other contaminants that would cause illness and sickness in those eating the food.

Bacteria, viruses, molds and other contaminants are natural occurring, as well as part of our human habits. Our emphasis must be to keep these elements from interacting with food, eliminating them when this occurs, and to keep them from cross contaminating from one food to another.

To that goal, the following procedures are in place:

Download the HLC Kitchen Operation Procedures