Lunches

[Gerry47]

Has anyone ever provided a service like a simple  packed lunch to go for their guests at a price? I thought it might be good for people on the go or hiking. I’m trying to figure out how payment would be swapped though between myself and the guest?

thanks

[Ned-And-Laura0]

I'd be weary of preparing  any of the food yourself as you can risk food borne illness.  If you do it, I would just put together a snack bag of pre-made store bought items like granola bars, chips, bottled water, nuts, etc.  You could just request the money after they check out, I'm willing to bet 99.999% of guests would pay the bill if they verbally agreed to it ahead of time.

[Lisa723]

https://www.airbnb.com/resolutions

[Gerry47]

Awesome thanks Lisa

[David126]

Speak to your local Health Dept first, find out wht their requirements are, for most Hosts unlikely to be cost effective.

[Lisa723]

@Ned-And-Laura0 @David126 how is this different from providing breakfast, which many hosts do?

[David126]

Not sure many, none in my area do that I know of.

But to answer your question it is the same deal.

[Lisa723]

@David126 FWIW filtering on the "breakfast" amenity in my area results in "300+" listings as does the unfiltered search.

Speaking for myself, I used to do it but as you pointed out, I didn't find it cost-effective. (I wasn't trying to charge extra for it.) Now I offer to fill a grocery list at cost-- hardly anyone takes me up on it.

But if I were a guest in a location with nearby hiking I would definitely be interested in the lunch option. 

[David126]

I used to run the place as a B&B, so I had to go through the process and have a Commercial Kitchen.

I also have a bar from those times and the mechanics are similar, you need a certain amount of business and how I am currently operating the extra costs would not justify it.

Now I think my locale is relatively easy as far as this is concerned, well judging by a few comments made on here. But as always YMMV.

Interestingly I do very occasionaly get asked about Breakfast and I do leave a few things out, but not a proper breakfast, no cooking.

Looking at what local hotels do seems similar, there is one B&B who does the full thing.

I did have someone comment that the limited things I do is more that some do who offer Breakfast.

[Ned-And-Laura0]

@Lisa723 I'd be weary of a home made breakfast as well.  A bit of under cooked meat or spoiled cream and you can have somebody yelling food poisoning.   I know people do it, but I'm just saying to be careful.  If you have no experience in food service (food storage, raw foods, allergies, cross contamination, insect and pest control, refrigerator temps, etc) then I'd stay away from charging people for prepared food. 

[Gerry47]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone, I have extensive food experience so that part doesn't worry me and I wouldn't be doing this to make a fortune. I really just wanted to focus on providing the service as an option. And it would be a small packed lunch with mostly everything being pre-packaged products already except for a simple sandwich, maybe chosen from three options. I've been to bed and breakfasts who also provided this and it was really helpful. I'd ask for 24 hours notice and have it ready to go. I'll think it over, but I was amazed that some hosts provide breakfast although I shouldn't really be. I think it's great if you can do it properly.

[David126]

The cost of the license is not that much where I am, but it is when you just do the odd lunch.