Illinois Permits and Certifications for Festival Vendors

Hello All! Long time lurker, first time poster here. I know people on this board are very knowledgeable so I figured here is the best place to ask. I was looking into starting a mobile concession business that just sells at carnivals and fairs mostly in the Chicagoland area, I however, am having a hard time finding out which permits/certifications(including a business liscense) I need to get the ball rolling, I am already Serv-Safe certified to handle food and I have a business kitchen that I could use, but other than that Im at Square One. Thanks Ahead of time for all your help!

Business license - yes, you must have your own business license.
State of Illinois food safety certificate
Chicago food safety certificate
Chicago summer festival sanitation certificate (redundant, another city money-grab)
Special event permit (usually filed by the event organizer)
Liability insurance
Proof your kitchen has passed health inspection

That's the basics. Surrounding counties have different codes for mobile kitchens, so go for overkill when building yours.

grace

MidwayKid wrote:Hello All! Long time lurker, first time poster here. I know people on this board are very knowledgeable so I figured here is the best place to ask. I was looking into starting a mobile concession business that just sells at carnivals and fairs mostly in the Chicagoland area, I however, am having a hard time finding out which permits/certifications(including a business liscense) I need to get the ball rolling, I am already Serv-Safe certified to handle food and I have a business kitchen that I could use, but other than that Im at Square One. Thanks Ahead of time for all your help!

Is this going to be the same or similar for farmers markets? I thought there was a temporary license that you could get that allowed preparing food at city farmers markets.

A friend of mine started a candy company recently and I would agree with swine. She was just telling me about her business insurance and it is a policy like this:

http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/busi ... ?WT.svl=24

I have no association with State Farm, but she was mentioning all the features of the policy and it was reasonably priced.

I also know she has to get a permit for each county, so she chose one county to concentrate her efforts. She is mostly at farmer's markets and craft fairs.

Good luck to you!