COMMERCIAL KITCHEN FAQ

We offer a completely equipped, licensed, and insured shared facility paired with a clean, air-conditioned, and professional environment where you can start and grow your dream food venture. You can easily test your recipes, prepare batch meals, bake large orders of delicious pastries, launch your catering business, produce and pack your food products, or conduct inspiring cooking classes.

In order to legally make food for consumption, purchase, or resale, it must be entirely prepared in an approved commercial kitchen facility. It is not legally possible to prepare food for sale out of your home.

Your food business starts with a Commercial Kitchen. Go to the ‘Ready to get started” tab on our website; The process, requirements, and resources are listed there. When you decide on using the kitchen n application must be completed.

To become a member, download and complete the kitchen membership agreement, and send it to us for evaluation. Although we would love to accept all requests for membership, we are subject to space and time limitation. Unfortunately, certain products or ventures may not be feasible for our location.

A Food Safety Management Certificate is required for all owners and managers, and a Food Safety Handler’s certificate is required for all other users.

YES, you will need a business tax license from the city in which you conduct business if you are going to sell online, at retail outlets, restaurants, etc. You might need one to sell at Farmers’ Markets as well. Check each market's requirements. In some cases, you may report your sales taxes under the event’s license.

Customers are responsible for clearing and cleaning all pots, pans, equipment, and all surfaces used, as well as sweeping and mopping floors around the workstation(s) used. Customers must also throw away any generated trash and are also responsible for cleaning and returning any equipment to storage, and for reporting and logging any problems with equipment.

To deter possible criminal activities, has full-time, interior and exterior surveillance/monitoring cameras to protect our customers.

We provide two full and prep kitchen spaces for hourly rent. Each kitchen is fully certified to produce food for sale. When you reserve a kitchen space, that kitchen is exclusively yours for the entire reservation time. You pay only for the hours you use.

If you have paid a membership fee you hourly rate has been reduced to a specialty rate for the duration of the membership term (1-year).

Before reserving kitchen time for your business with The D Loft Commercial Kitchen,

Clients must apply for and complete food service plan review and licensure by the Oakland County Michigan Health Division, if the business is producing and packaging a product to sell wholesale/take to market contact Michigan Department of Agriculture.

Please note that licenses are renewed yearly in April, and it is the client’s responsibility to make sure we receive a copy of the new license.

Have signed Operating Agreement with The D Loft Commercial Kitchen and received The Kitchen Policy Handbook.

Provide proof of an approved Certified Food Service Manager/food handler Certification and carry the original certificate during any kitchen use. At least one staff person with your business must be a Certified Food Service Manager when using kitchen space.

Business Liability Insurance: provide proof of product liability insurance coverage, with a minimum of $1 million dollars per occurrence and $2 million aggregate, with The D Loft Commercial Kitchen and The D Loft Café listed as additional insured and maintain such policy for the duration of any kitchen use.

Refundable Security Deposit: Pay a one-time refundable security deposit of $250.00.

Simply call us at 313-879-0750 to inquire about availability. You will also be required to sign a Release Form stating that the food you are producing will not be sold.

We have a tiered pricing structure designed to help growing businesses by lowering prices as you reserve more monthly hours. Our pricing grid is available upon request in our brochure. While our pricing may seem complicated, we have designed it to help businesses overcome the hurdle of going from a small, part-time business to a full-time food professional, while still ensuring that our kitchens are affordable for anyone.

All employees or helpers at The D Loft Commercial Kitchen or Cafe must be supervised by an owner or manager with a valid Food Service Manager Certification. No children younger than 14 are allowed in the kitchen at any time. Children are expected to remain with you in your reserved kitchen.

Simply call us at The D Loft Commercial Kitchen and Cafe when Wayne and/or Oakland County Health Department or Michigan Department of Agriculture representatives are ready to schedule your inspection/licensing. We will assign you a kitchen and time for your inspection/licensing. You will be required to pay for your use of the kitchen for this process based on the hourly rate. This process usually takes 2-3 hours but may take longer with the Michigan Department of Agriculture. Once licensed you must provide the food service manager certification and liability insurance, we will provide the Client Agreement, Policies and Procedures and Standard Operating Procedures. Your schedule will be created, and you will also receive your exclusive building access code. Then you will be able to access our facility during your scheduled use.

Once you become a client of The D Loft Commercial Kitchen and Cafe, your logo, business description and website will be sent to our webmaster to be linked to our website.

If you plan to sell to a restaurant, retail store, Farmer’s Market or any other resale location, you will likely need one. You should contact The Michigan Department of Agriculture – Toll Free: (800)292-3939.

Please contact our office at 313-879-0750 to request a tour or go online book a tour calendly.com/thedloftcafe. One of our team members will return your call and schedule a time for your tour. We are very careful not to schedule tours when our tenants are running their businesses and the kitchen is extremely busy.

You can review our kitchen schedules to see availability. Please email us at thedlofteatery@gmail.comor thedloftcafe@gmail.com regarding kitchen rental availability.

We are properly equipped to serve as a commissary for mobile units. However, you may use our kitchens to prepare food for sale through a mobile unit.

Our storage space is limited for the walk-in cooler/freezer and dry storage. Storage for clients will be managed on demand and we will do the best we can to accommodate storage and the fee will be discussed at that time.

Each client is required to book a minimum of eight (2) hours per month. You cannot be licensed to use our kitchens and then not use the kitchen. This comes to approximately two (2) hours per week. Oakland County Health Department and The Michigan Department of Agriculture monitor the hours used by each business to make sure they are using their licenses accordingly and not working from an unlicensed facility.

Calendars will be available for the current month and the following month. For example, in January, you can reserve time during January and February. On February 1st, March's calendar will become available for sign-up. Hours are reserved on a first-reserved, first-served basis. If you need use of the kitchen for one-time or drop-in use, 24-hour notice is usually sufficient, if there is time available.

Payment is due when making your reservation and prior to your use of the kitchen. If you are reserving multiple blocks of time for the month, your advance payment is needed to reserve those times. Likewise, in the case of one-time or drop-in use, payment will be required prior to using the kitchen.

Hours cannot be credited to the following month. We understand that it is hard to estimate how many hours you'll need, but due to the nature of the business, it is extremely important that you try to estimate as accurately as possible, as hours cannot be credited to the following month.

If there is unreserved time available, additional hours can be purchased at the same rate you're paying for that month.

Yes, we provide a checklist to be followed when using our kitchens. While we don't expect you to wash the walls, you should leave the kitchen the way you'd like it to look when you come in. That basically means wash your dishes, wipe down dirty equipment and surfaces, sweep, and mop.

No, The D Loft Commercial Kitchen and Cafe is an original concept, founded and managed by current Member/Owner board.

Information concerning the food service plan review is available on the Oakland County website at: http://www.oakgov.com/health/info_pub/eh_food_planreview.html , with additional food safety information at http://www.oakgov.com/health/assets/Documents/EH/eh_food_relatedlinks.html . There are links to the Michigan Food Law and Certified Food Service Manager information available at that address.

Fee information is available at: http://www.oakgov.com/health/program_service/eh_food.html.