Running a food business

You need a licence if you're manufacturing or selling unpackaged food including:

• cut fruit or vegetables, or fruit or vegetable juice
• baked goods with fruit, dairy fillings or icings
• dairy, including yoghurt and milk products
• takeaway foods such as hamburgers, hot dogs, pizzas, hot chips or curry
• cooked meat such as a sausage sizzle
• cooked meals at a cafe or restaurant
• food for taste testing
• any other unpackaged food that is not exempt.

Home-based food preparation operations that need a licence include:

• food prepared for sale at a market or fete
• bed and breakfast meals
• home-based catering
• motel kitchens that also serve as kitchens for owners or onsite managers
• cooking demonstrations where the demonstrator supplies ingredients and the participants consume the prepared food.

You don't need a food business licence if you're only selling:

• drinks such as tea, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol
• whole fruit or vegetables
• unpackaged snacks such as baked goods without cut fruit, dairy filling or icings
• pre-packaged food (prepared by a licenced food business)
• ice/flavoured ice made onsite.

You don’t need a food business licence if you’re only grinding coffee beans.

Non-profit organisations don’t need a food business licence unless they sell meals 12 or more times a year. 

Fixed premises refers to a fixed location. The following types of businesses are covered by the fixed premises business licence.

• General retail, including cafes, restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, food shops, takeaways, fruit and vegetable processing.
• Food or beverage manufacturing, including breweries and distilleries, and home-based food businesses.
• Catering, both onsite and offsite, including providing food for people in aged care, hospitals or childcare centres.
• Accommodations meals, including bed and breakfast.
• Mobile food trucks permanently on private property.
   

Running a food business from home

You can only apply for a fixed premises licence if you prepare and handle low-risk food. 

Low-risk food is any food that doesn’t need to be kept refrigerated or warm to be safe for consumption. This includes bread, baked goods, preserves and uncut fruits and vegetables.

Your food preparation area needs to meet fit-out requirements. It must also:

• be separate from where household food is prepared
• include commercial-grade surfaces and appliances
• be secure from children and pets.

For more information, see the Design and fit-out guide for fixed food businesses.

A temporary food stall is a non-permanent set-up where you prepare, handle or sell unpackaged food. The set-up usually includes a shelter with three walls.

A temporary food stall licence covers one stall: 

• at specific organised markets or events
• operating multiple times throughout a year, or at a single event for up to 4-12 days in a row.

Learn more about temporary food stallsopens in a new tab on the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) website.

A mobile food business prepares, handles or serves unpacked food from a mobile vehicle or structure. You need a licence to prepare or handle food for sale from a:

• food truck
• motor vehicle
• ice cream van
• pie van (smoko truck) where unpackaged food is sold
• mobile snack truck
• mobile food trailer
• vending machine
• water carrier.

You don't need a food business licence if you're selling:

• drinks such as tea, coffee, soft drinks, alcohol
• slushies/flavoured ice/ice made onsite
• pre-packaged food (prepared by a licenced business).
   

Preparing food at another location

If you prepare ingredients or food at another location, the premises must have a fixed premises food business licence.

For example, if you’re running a food truck business where the food you sell is prepared in a home-based kitchen.