Stephanie Streight, environmental health coordinator for the Peoria City-County Health Department, discusses the amenities within their new community kitchen with a local cottage baker on Sept. 24. The kitchen is now accepting applications from food entrepreneurs. (Photo by Tim Alexander for Chronicle Media)
A fully equipped, commercial grade community kitchen for food entrepreneurs and nonprofits was recently unveiled by the Peoria City-County Health Department. Rental fees for the fully licensed culinary space, located within the health department complex at 2116 N. Sheridan Road in Peoria, are set at $30 per hour (discountable for multiple-hour rentals) with no charge assessed to qualifying nonprofits and community event organizers.
“When Illinois’ cottage kitchen law was expanded in 2022 to where people could start selling their products in more locations — it used to be restricted to farmers markets — it included deliveries from their house, festivals and fairs, and also expanded some of the items they can produce. Since then, we’ve seen a huge increase in interest from people wanting to do this,” said Stephanie Streight, environmental health coordinator for the PCCHD.
The new kitchen presents an opportunity for those already bitten by the cottage kitchen bug to “scale up” their production, but is small enough that anyone can use it comfortably. Because it is fully licensed with the state, food entrepreneurs can legally sell products made in the PCCHD kitchen to local restaurants, coffee shops and other retail food vendors — an advantage unavailable to unlicensed cottage bakers and cooks.
“This kitchen meets the Illinois food code (and other codes) that allow us to be fully licensed, and we have an agreement with Tazewell County, so we are not inspecting ourselves, providing checks and balances,” explained Streight.
With the September opening of the PCCHD community kitchen there are currently around 10 licensed commercial cottage kitchens around Peoria, ranging from those who serve just one or two clients to larger, better-advertised facilities. They include Distillery Labs, Springboard Kitchen, A Matter of Taste (Peoria Heights), East Bluff Community Center, The Table and others.
“We don’t want to be in competition with these kitchens; we just want to provide an avenue for more people to have access to a licensed food establishment,” said Carey Panier, director of environmental health at PCCHD.
Panier noted that the publicly supported PCCHD kitchen is not only priced competitively for use by independent food entrepreneurs, but it can also be booked by community-facing event organizers and used free of charge (per appointment) by local nonprofits.
“If you are a temporary food vendor who might not be able to make all their food onsite, they may be able to use a licensed kitchen for just a few hours to make a product to take to their temporary events,” Panier said. “I think there are a lot of ideas we haven’t yet thought of. Maybe someone who wants to make meals for some of the unhoused population would need a place for food preparation in a safe and licensed kitchen.”
According to Steight, “The level of interest has surprised us. It’s all across the board. Some of the first calls were from (nonprofits) who are in need of a kitchen, and we had a group of church women call who said they’d love to have a kitchen for their cookie-baking. We also heard from people who want to do vegan classes.”
The fully equipped PCCHD community kitchen, paid for in part by grants, includes a six-burner gas range, flattop double-stack convection oven, commercial cooler and freezers, secure and dry storage units, stainless steel prep stations, hand-washing sinks, food preparation sink, mop sink, and three-compartment dish sink with external grease interceptor. Purchases of additional kitchen equipment, including potential specialty accessories, will be considered based on client demand, according to Streight.
While the PCCHD serves primarily as a regulatory enforcement agency for the city and county, Panier sees the kitchen as an opportunity to further the department’s food safety outreach and education mission.
“When you have enforcement without the education, you are not really teaching people to be able to understand and meet those (health code) requirements,” she said.
The PCCHD community kitchen is available by appointment only, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Health Department staff are available to offer kitchen users food safety guidance and advice on food handling and packaging requirements for the wholesale market. Before using the kitchen, renters must go through a brief orientation on food safety and kitchen equipment usage.
Pre-requirements for use of the kitchen also include a certified food manager or food handler license, allergen training and liability insurance. To learn more about the fee structure or submit a user application, visit www.pcchd.org or email eh@peoriacounty.org
